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THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 


13)40 


THE  LUSITANIA'S 
LAST  VOYAGE 

Being  a  Narrative 

of  the  Torpedoing  and  Sinking 

of  the  R.  M.  S.  Lusitania 

by  a  German  Submarine 

off  the  Irish  Coast 

May  7,  1915 

BY 

CHARLES  E.  LAURIAT,  JB. 

ONE  OF  THE  SURVIVORS 

With  Illustrations 


BOSTON    AND  NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

dbc  RitetfiDe  prc<>  Cambridge 

1915 


COPYRIGHT,  1915,  BY  CHARLES  E.  LAURIAT,  JR. 
ALL   RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  Octobtr  K)iy 


Copyright  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland, 

and    British    Colonies,   and   in    all 

countries  under  the  Convention,  by 

Charles  E.  Lauriat,  Jr. 


TO   MY   FATHER 

WHO  TAUGHT  MB   IN  BOYHOOD  TO   SWIM,  AND 
TO   KNOW   NO  FEAR   OF   THE   SEA 

AND 
TO  MY   MOTHER 

WHO   FOUNDED   THE   FAITH  THAT 

HAS   BROUGHT   ME 
THROUGH   ALL   THINGS 

I  DEDICATE  THIS 
BOOK 


THE  ZONE 

Avert  Thy  gaze,  O  God,  close  tight  Thine  eyes! 
Glance  down  no  longer  on  the  ocean  foam, 
Lest  Thou  behold  such  horrors  as  can  turn 
Men's  burning  hearts  to  ice,  and  chill  their  souls. 

Keep  Thine  heart  warm  and  full  of  charity 
That  Thou  mayst  yet  be  able  to  forgive, 
And  pity  feel  for  those  who  know  not  when 
To  pause  in  deeds  of  ruthless  sacrifice. 

Restrain  Thy  wrath,  and  keep  Thine  hand  in 

check; 

Smite  not,  nor  fiercely  thrust  without  the  pale 
Those  who  can  dare  to  strew  the  ocean  waste 
With  fellow  creatures,  innocent  of  wrong. 

Forget  the  studied  purpose  to  destroy; 
The  launching  of  the  missile  through  the  deep; 
The  shattered  hull;  the  crushed  and  bleeding  forms; 
The  seething  swirl  of  wreckage,  women,  men. 


(  vi) 


Remember  that  they  know  not  what  they  do 
Who  strike  in  deadly  fear  and  ghastly  hate; 
Remember  that  somehow,  and  at  some  time, 
Each  crime  exacts  its  human  penalty. 

Remember  that  man's  conscience  and  man's  mind 
Are  agents  of  Thy  purpose  and  Thy  plan, 
Which  work  within  a  deadlier  revenge 
Than  any  shrapnel  shot  or  sabre  thrust. 

Remember  that  new  generations  come 
Upon  whom  fall  the  burden  and  the  curse, 
The  anguish  of  old  hatreds  and  past  wrongs, 
The  crushing  debt,  the  struggle  and  despair. 

Restrain,  O  God,  the  sweep  of  this  vast  hate; 
Recall  the  nations  to  their  sense  of  shame: 
To  those  in  blinding  war,  to  us  at  peace, 
Reveal  anew  the  message  of  the  Christ. 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON,  JR. 

(Reprinted    by    permission    of    the 
author  and  of  the  Boston  Trantcript) 

i   Vii   ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 
PART  I 


THE  LUSITANIA'S 
LAST  VOYAGE 

PART  I 

6,  NEW  OXFORD  STREET,  LONDON,  W.  C.t 
May  lid,  1915 

OUR  voyage  from  New  York  had  been  un- 
eventful and  in  fact  it  was  quite  a  "Lauriat 
Crossing";  fine  weather,  smooth  sea,  and 
after  the  first  few  hours  of  Sunday  (May  2) 
there  had  been  no  fog  up  to  Friday  morning 
(May  7),  when  it  came  in  for  a  short 
time. 

The  speed  of  the  boat  had  not  been  what 
I  had  expected  it  would  be,  for  after  the  first 
full  run  of  24  hours,  in  which  we  covered  501 
miles,  the  run  dropped  each  day  to  well  below 
the  500  mark,  and  the  last  24  hours  up  to 
(3) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Friday  noon  (May  7)  we  made  only  462  miles. 
This  was  partly  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
we  picked  up  Greenwich  time  at  Cape  Clear 
and  put  the  clock  ahead  1  hour  and  40 
minutes. 

The  reason  this  small  run  impressed  itself 
upon  my  mind  was  that  I  expected  that 
when  we  sighted  the  Irish  Coast  the  "Lucy'* 
would  show  a  burst  of  "top  speed"  and  that 
we  should  go  flying  up  at  not  less  than  25 
miles  an  hour.  The  run  up  to  Thursday  noon 
(May  6)  had  been  484  miles,  and  so  confident 
was  I  that  she  would  put  on  steam  that  I 
bought  the  high  number  in  the  pool  (for 
Friday),  which  was  499.  It  was  the  only  pool 
I  went  into  and  I  couldn't  help  it,  for  the 
number  sold  at  £3.0.0  and  at  that  price  it 
looked  like  a  "bargain." 

During  the  forenoon  of  Thursday  (May  6) 
we  swung  out  and  uncovered  22  lifeboats,  11 
on  each  side,  showing  Captain  Turner's  pre- 
(4) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

paredness  towards  emergency.  I  was  keenly 
interested  in  all  that  was  done  aboard  ship  as 
we  approached  the  Irish  Coast,  and  in  fact  all 
through  the  voyage  I  kept  my  eyes  unusually 
wide  open. 

At  night  the  shades  in  the  saloon  were 
closely  drawn,  and  I  noticed  that  my  bedroom 
steward  left  a  note  for  the  night  watchman 
stating  just  which  ports  were  open  when  he 
(the  steward)  went  off  duty. 

Friday  noon  when  the  run  was  posted  I 
was  surprised,  for  I  certainly  thought  that 
this  was  the  time  to  put  on  speed.  The  sea 
was  smooth  as  a  pancake,  an  ideal  chance  for 
a  dash  up  the  coast.  When  I  heard  the  fog 
horn  early  Friday  morning  I  turned  over  and 
took  another  snooze,  for  there  was  no  use  in 
getting  up  if  it  was  foggy  and  disagreeable 
weather.  The  fog  did  not  last  long  and  was 
nothing  more  than  a  morning  mist. 

I  got  up  at  noon  and  had  time  for  a  stroll 
(5) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

around  the  deck  before  lunch  at  1  o'clock. 
I  noticed  that  we  were  not  going  anywhere 
near  top  speed  and  were  following,  as  I  re- 
membered, the  usual  course  up  the  Irish 
Coast,  that  being  about  5  to  7  miles  dis- 
tant. I  wondered  at  our  loafing  along  at  this 
gentle  pace. 

When  I  bought  my  ticket  at  the  Cunard 
Office  hi  Boston  I  asked  if  we  were  to  be  con- 
voyed through  the  war  zone,  and  the  reply 
made  was,  "Oh  yes!  every  precaution  will 
be  taken." 

When  we  got  into  Queenstown  I  found 
the  people  furious  through  the  act  itself  and 
disgusted  that  three  torpedo-boat  destroyers 
should  have  lain  at  anchor  in  Queenstown 
harbor  all  the  tune  the  Lusitania  was  coming 
up  the  Irish  Coast.  Some  of  the  men  along 
the  sea  front  told  me  that  these  boats  had 
been  out  during  the  morning,  but  had  come 
back  for  "lunch."  They  all  turned  up  after 
(6) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

the  tragedy,  but  they  could  have  been  used 
to  better  advantage  before  it. 

After  lunch  I  went  to  my  stateroom  and 
put  on  my  sweater  under  the  coat  of  the 
knickerbocker  suit  that  I  was  wearing  and 
went  up  on  deck  for  a  real  walk.  I  came 
up  the  main  companion-way  and  stepped 
out  on  the  port  side  of  the  steamer  and  saw 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elbert  Hubbard  standing  by 
the  rail,  a  little  for'ard  of  the  entrance.  I 
joined  them  and  was  conversing  with  them 
when  the  torpedo  struck  the  ship.  In  fact, 
Mr.  Hubbard  had  just  jokingly  remarked 
that  he  didn't  believe  he  would  be  a  welcome 
traveller  to  Germany,  owing  to  the  little 
essay  he  had  written  entitled  "Who  Lifted 
the  Lid  Off  Hell."  Mr.  Hubbard  had  not 
more  than  finished  this  remark  when  the 
shock  came.  This  "essay"  appeared  in  the 
"Philistine"  for  October,  1914,  and  Mr. 
Hubbard  had  given  me  a  copy  earlier  on 
(7) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

the  voyage.  If  you  want  to  read  a  piece 
of  vitriolic  English,  I  suggest  that  you  send 
for  a  copy. 

Where  I  stood  on  deck  the  shock  of  the 
impact  was  not  severe;  it  was  a  heavy, 
rather  muffled  sound,  but  the  good  ship 
trembled  for  a  moment  under  the  force  of 
the  blow;  a  second  explosion  quickly  fol- 
lowed, but  I  do  not  think  it  was  a  second 
torpedo,  for  the  sound  was  quite  different; 
it  was  more  likely  a  boiler  in  the  engine  room. 

As  I  turned  to  look  hi  the  direction  of  the 
explosion  I  saw  a  shower  of  coal  and  steam 
and  some  debris  hurled  into  the  air  between 
the  second  and  third  funnels,  and  then  heard 
the  fall  of  gratings  and  other  wreckage  that 
had  been  blown  up  by  the  explosion. 

Remember  that  I  was  standing  well  for'ard 

on  the  port  side,  and  consequently  looked 

back  at  the  scene  of  the  explosion,  at  an  angle 

across  to  the  starboard  side;    therefore,  al- 

(8) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

though  the  debris  showed  between  the  second 
and  third  funnels,  I  think  the  blow  was  de- 
livered practically  in  line  with  the  fourth 
funnel. 

I  looked  immediately  at  my  watch  and 
it  was  exactly  8  minutes  past  9  (A.M.) 
Boston  time,  which  means  8  minutes  past 
2  Greenwich  time. 

I  turned  to  the  Hubbards  and  suggested 
that  they  go  to  their  stateroom  to  get  their 
life  jackets.  Their  cabin  was  on  deck  B,  on 
the  port  side,  at  the  foot  of  the  main  com- 
panion-way, and  they  had  ample  time  to  go 
there  and  get  back  to  the  deck;  but  Mr.  Hub- 
bard  stayed  by  the  rail  affectionately  holding 
his  arm  around  his  wife's  waist  and  both 
seemed  unable  to  act. 

I  went  straight  down  to  my  stateroom, 

which,  as  you  will  remember,  was  the  most 

for'ard  one  on  deck  B  on  the  starboard  side. 

The  boat  had  taken  a  list  to  starboard,  but 

(9) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

it  was  not  acute,  and  so  I  had  no  difficulty  in 
making  my  way  to  and  from  my  cabin.  I 
tied  on  a  life  belt,  took  the  others  in  the  room 
and  my  small  leather  case  containing  my 
business  papers,  and  went  up  on  deck  to  the 
port  side.  I  went  back  to  the  spot  where  I 
had  left  the  Hubbards,  but  they  had  gone, 
and  I  never  saw  them  again. 

I  found  those  who  needed  the  life  belts, 
put  them  on,  tied  them  properly,  and  then 
went  aft  along  the  port  side  of  the  ship, 
for  I  was  confident  that  all  hands  would 
naturally  rush  to  the  starboard  side  and  so 
there  would  be  more  opportunity  to  help 
along  the  port  side.  I  turned  and  walked 
for'ard  toward  the  bridge,  and  Captain  Tur- 
ner and  Captain  Anderson  were  both  calling 
in  stentorian  tones  not  to  lower  away  the 
boats,  ordering  all  passengers  and  sailors  to 
get  out  of  them,  saying  that  there  was  no  dan- 
ger and  that  the  ship  would  float.  A  woman 
(  10) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

passenger  beside  me  called  out  to  Captain 
Turner  in  a  perfectly  clear  and  calm  voice, 
"Captain,  what  do  you  wish  us  to  do?" 
"Stay  right  where  you  are,  Madam,  she's 
all  right."  Then  the  woman  asked  him, 
"Where  do  you  get  your  information?" — 
and  he  replied  in  rather  a  severe  and  com- 
manding voice,  "From  the  engine  room, 
Madam."  She  and  I  turned  and  walked 
quietly  aft  and  tried  to  reassure  the  pas- 
sengers we  met. 

As  I  looked  around  to  see  to  whom  I  could 
be  of  the  greatest  help  it  seemed  to  me  that 
about  everyone  who  passed  me  wearing  a 
life  belt  had  it  on  incorrectly.  In  their  hurry 
they  put  them  on  every  way  except  the 
right  way:  one  man  had  his  arm  through 
one  armhole  and  his  head  through  the 
other;  others  had  them  on  around  the  waist 
and  upside  down;  but  very  few  had  them  on 
correctly.  I  stopped  these  people  and  spoke 
(11) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  them  in  a  calm  voice  and  persuaded  them 
to  let  me  help  them  on  with  the  belts,  for 
they  certainly  stood  no  show  in  the  water 
rigged  as  they  were.  At  first  they  thought  I 
was  trying  to  take  their  jackets  from  them, 
but  on  reassuring  them  they  let  me  straighten 
them  out. 

I  had  been  watching  carefully  the  list  of 
the  steamer,  and  by  now  I  was  confident 
that  she  wouldn't  float  and  that  the  end  was 
coming  fast.  I  remembered  one  or  two  per- 
sonal things  in  my  stateroom  which  I  very 
much  wanted,  and  I  figured  that  I  had  time 
to  go  down  and  get  them.  If  I  didn't  come 
through  the  final  plunge,  I  wanted  to  feel  I 
had  them  with  me,  and  if  I  did  get  through, 
I  was  just  as  sure  I  wanted  them,  so  there 
didn't  seem  anything  to  do  but  to  get  them, 
which  I  did. 

There  was  a  companion-way  for'ard  of  the 
main  staircase,  about  half-way  between  it 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

and  my  stateroom,  so  I  went  along  the  port 
passage  inside  of  deck  A,  down  that  com- 
panion-way, and  along  the  starboard  pas- 
sage to  my  stateroom.  It  was  not  until  I 
walked  along  this  passage  that  I  realized 
how  acute  was  the  list  of  the  ship.  My  state- 
room was  an  inside  one  without  a  porthole, 
and  consequently  could  be  lighted  only  by 
electricity.  I  pressed  the  switch,  but  the  light 
had  gone,  so  I  put  my  hand  on  a  box  of 
matches;  for  each  night  when  I  retired  I 
placed  a  box  in  a  particular  place,  just  in 
case  I  needed  it.  With  the  aid  of  these 
matches  I  found  the  little  article  for  which  I 
was  looking,  opened  my  travelling  bag,  and 
took  out  some  papers  which  included  my 
passport  and  other  envelopes  that  could 
easily  be  slipped  into  my  inside  pocket. 

I  had  kept  my  drafts  on  my  person,  for  I 
figured  that  there  was  no  use  in  giving  them 
to  the  purser,  except  as  a  precaution  against 
(  13) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

theft,  and  that  was  negligible.  If  what  had 
happened  was  to  happen,  I  knew  there  would 
be  no  time  to  reclaim  them  from  the  purser. 
I  made  my  way  back  along  the  passage, 
walking  in  the  angle  formed  by  the  floor 
and  the  side  walls  of  the  staterooms  rather 
than  the  floor,  and  went  back  up  the  for'ard 
companion-way,  the  same  that  I  came  down. 
Going  along  the  passage  (on  deck  B)  I 
looked  down  some  of  the  cross  passages  that 
lead  to  the  staterooms,  and  at  the  bottom  of 
the  ones  I  passed  I  saw  that  the  portholes 
were  open  and  that  the  water  could  not  have 
been  more  than  a  few  feet  from  them.  Here 
let  me  state  that  I  consider  it  most  extraor- 
dinary that  the  portholes  on  the  lower  decks 
should  not  have  been  closed  and  sealed  as  we 
steamed  through  the  war  zone.  At  luncheon 
the  portholes  hi  the  dining-saloon  on  deck 
D  were  open,  and  so  I  doubt  not  that 
all  the  others  on  that  deck  were  open. 
(  14) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

I  mean  those  in  the  staterooms.  I  cannot 
speak  with  certainty  in  regard  to  the  port- 
holes on  deck  E.  I  believe  that  the  first  list 
the  ship  took  brought  her  down  to  these 
open  ports  on  the  starboard  side  and  that 
she  sank  much  more  quickly  from  filling 
through  them. 

On  my  return  to  the  deck  I  felt  that  the 
steamer  must  make  her  final  plunge  any  mo- 
ment now,  and  as  there  was  nothing  more  that 
could  be  done  on  the  port  side — for  there  was 
no  discipline  or  order  with  which  to  do  it — I 
passed  through  to  the  starboard  side.  Men 
were  striving  to  lower  the  boats  and  were 
putting  women  and  children  into  them,  but  it 
seemed  to  me  that  it  only  added  horror  to 
the  whole  situation  to  put  people  into  a 
boat  that  you  knew  never  would  be  cleared 
and  which  would  go  down  with  the  steamer; 
better  leave  them  on  the  deck  to  let  them 

take  their  chance  at  a  piece  of  wreckage. 
(15) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

True,  there  was  no  panic,  in  the  sense  that 
anyone  crowded  or  pushed  his  way  to  the 
lifeboats,  but  there  was  infinite  confusion, 
and  there  seemed  no  one  to  take  command  of 
any  one  boat. 

As  I  came  out  on  the  starboard  side,  I 
saw,  a  little  aft  of  the  mam  entrance,  a 
lifeboat  well  filled  with  people,  principally 
women  and  children,  that  no  one  had  at- 
tempted to  clear  from  the  davits.  The 
steamer  was  rapidly  sinking,  and  I  realized 
that  the  boat  must  be  cleared  at  once  if 
the  people  were  to  be  saved. 

I  climbed  into  the  stern  of  the  boat,  which 
was  floating  flush  with  the  rail  of  deck  B, 
so  far  had  the  steamer  settled,  and  helped 
clear  the  fall.  We  freed  our  end  and  swung 
the  ropes  clear,  but  we  couldn't  make  anyone 
for'ard  understand  what  to  do  or  how  to 
do  it. 

I  remember  looking  for'ard  and  seeing 
(  16) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

someone,  I  think  it  was  a  steward,  bravely 
cutting  away  at  the  thick  ropes  with  a  pocket 
knife.  How  I  wish  he  had  had  an  axe! 
What  would  I  have  given  for  one  real  sailor 
man  for'ard;  we  could  have  saved  that 
boatload  of  people.  I  started  to  go  for'ard, 
but  it  w.as  impossible  to  climb  through  that 
boatload  of  people,  mixed  up  as  they  were 
with  oars,  boat  hooks,  kegs  of  water, 
rope  ladders,  sails,  and  God  knows  what  — 
everything  that  seemed  to  hinder  progress 
to  getting  for'ard.  The  steamer  was 
all  the  time  rapidly  settling,  and  to  look 
at  the  tremendous  smokestack  hanging 
out  over  us  only  added  to  the  terror 
of  the  people  in  the  boat.  I  certainly 
did  not  blame  them,  for  it  was  a  har- 
rowing sight,  even  to  one  as  familiar  with 
the  ocean  as  I  am.  However,  I  should 
have  gone  for'ard  and  made  the  try,  ex- 
cept that  the  stern  end  of  the  boat  was 
(  17) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

raised  by  a  small  swell  of  the  ocean  and  I 
was  impressed  by  the  nearness  of  the  davit 
by  getting  a  blow  on  the  back  which  nearly 
knocked  me  overboard. 

Then  I  admit  that  I  saw  the  hopeless- 
ness of  ever  clearing  the  f  or'ard  davit  in  time 
to  get  the  boat  away,  so  I  stepped  out  and 
made  a  try  for  it  by  swimming.  I  spoke  to 
several  and  urged  them  to  come;  but  truly 
they  were  petrified,  and  only  my  training 
from  boyhood  up,  in  the  water  and  under  it, 
gave  me  the  courage  to  jump.  I  swam  about 
100  feet  away  from  the  ship  and  then  turned 
around  to  see  if  anyone  was  following  to 
whom  I  could  lend  a  hand,  and  found  several 
who  needed  encouragement.  Also  I  wanted 
to  see  when  the  final  plunge  of  the  steamer 
came,  that  I  might  be  the  more  ready  to 
fight  against  the  vortex  and  tell  the  others. 
The  Lusitania  did  not  go  down  anything 
like  head  first:  she  had,  rather,  settled  along 
(  18) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

her  whole  water  line.  This  convinces  me 
that  practically  all  the  ports  must  have  been 
open,  even  those  as  far  down  as  Deck  E. 
The  stern  did  not  rise  to  anything  like  a 
perpendicular,  nor  did  it  rise  so  high  that  I 
could  see  a  single  one  of  the  propellers  or 
even  the  end  of  her  rudder.  Not  one  of 
her  funnels  fell. 

The  last  I  saw  of  the  lifeboat  out  of  which  I 
jumped  was  that  she  was  being  pulled  down, 
bow  first,  as  the  tackle  had  not  been  freed 
and  the  stern  of  the  boat  was  rising  high  in 
the  air.  While  the  people  were  thrown  out, 
they  were  not  so  violently  thrown  as  those 
from  some  of  the  lifeboats  that  were  dropped 
when  half  lowered  into  the  water. 

There  was  very  little  vortex;  there  was 
rather  a  shooting  out  from  the  ship  instead 
of  a  sucking  in,  after  she  sank;  this  I  am  told 
was  partly  caused  by  the  water  rushing  into 
her  funnels  and  being  blown  out  again  by  ex- 
(  19  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

plosions  made  by  the  mixing  of  the  cold  water 
of  the  sea  with  the  steam  of  the  boilers.  I 
saw  an  interesting  statement  in  one  of  the 
papers,  purporting  to  have  come  from  Cap- 
tain Turner,  in  which  he  stated  that  the  small 
amount  of  suction  was  probably  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  bow  of  the  boat  was  already 
resting  on  the  bottom  when  the  stern  went 
down.  This  seems  quite  feasible,  as  she  sank 
in  about  60  fathoms  (360  feet)  of  water  and 
she  was  755  feet  long. 

The  sea  was  wonderfully  smooth,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  if  one  could  keep  clear  of 
the  wreck  and  pick  up  a  lifeboat,  that  it 
could  be  manned  and  that  we  could  go 
back  and  get  many  survivors.  I  was  able  to 
work  this  out  quite  as  I  planned. 

As  I  waited  for  the  final  plunge  something 

caught  me  on  the  top  of  my  head  and  slipped 

down  to  my  shoulders,  pressing  me  under 

the  water;  I  couldn't  imagine  what  it  was, 

(20) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

but  on  turning  to  see  I  found  that  it  was 
one  of  the  aerials  of  the  wireless  that  stretched 
from  topmast  to  topmast. 

The  present  style  of  life  belt,  or  rather 
jacket,  is  not  the  old-fashioned  kind  filled 
with  hard  cork,  but  a  larger  and  more  bulky 
affair  filled  with  fibre,  and  when  you  have 
it  on  you  look  and  feel  like  a  padded  foot- 
ball player,  especially  around  the  shoulders. 
When  I  shook  this  wire  off  my  head,  it 
caught  me  around  the  shoulders  on  the  soft 
pad,  and  I  couldn't  shake  it  off.  It  took  me 
down  under  the  water  and  turned  me  upside 
down.  I  tell  you  I  "kicked."  I  came  up 
none  the  worse  for  my  ducking,  for  it  simply 
reminded  me  of  one  of  my  various  trips  down 
to  see  "Susy  the  Mermaid"  when  I  was  a 
youngster  at  Camp  Asquam  and  the  older 
boys  used  to  duck  us  youngsters  anywhere 
from  five  to  fifteen  times  a  day,  according  to 

the  unpardonable  sins  we  were  supposed  to 

(21  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

have  committed;  and  these  weren't  mere 
"duckings"  either.  They  used  to  push  us 
under,  put  their  feet  on  our  shoulders,  and 
then  give  a  good  shove,  so  that  we  went  down 
anywhere  from  six  to  sixteen  feet  under 
water.  I  hated  the  duckings  at  that  time, 
but  they  proved  mighty  good  training! 

When  I  came  up,  after  shaking  the  Mar- 
coni wire,  the  waves  bearing  the  wreckage 
and  people  were  upon  me.  After  swimming 
around  and  helping  those  I  could  by  pushing 
them  pieces  of  wreckage  to  which  to  cling, 
I  saw  a  short  distance  away  a  collapsible 
lifeboat  floating  right  side  up,  swam  to  it, 
and  climbed  aboard.  A  seaman  quickly  fol- 
lowed, and  a  fine  husky  chap  he  proved  to  be. 
I  heard  my  name  called,  and  for  the  moment 
I  didn't  realize  whether  it  was  a  call  from 
Heaven  or  Hell,  but  when  I  turned  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  voice  I  found  the  man  to  be 

G ,  one  of  the  three  men  with  whom  I 

(  22  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

had  played  cards  each  evening.  I  pulled 
him  up  on  the  boat,  and  we  three  got  out  our 
jackknives  and  went  at  a  kind  of  can-open- 
ing operation,  which  was  really  the  remov- 
ing of  the  canvas  cover  of  the  boat. 

They  call  that  invention  a  "boat,"  but  to 
start  with,  it  is  nothing  but  a  "raft."  Let 
me  try  to  draw  you  a  word  picture  and  see 
if  you  will  understand  it. 

Suppose  you  floated  a  real  lifeboat  in  the 
water,  and  at  the  water  line  cut  down  the  sides 
so  that  the  bottom  of  the  boat  that  was  left 
floated  flush  with  the  water.  Then  deck  over 
and  make  watertight  this  part  of  the  boat 
that  is  left.  This  gives  you  a  round  bot- 
tomed, watertight  raft,  floating  almost  flush 
with  the  water. 

Take  a  long  piece  of  about  24-inch  high  (or 

wide)  canvas  that  will  reach  all  around  the 

sides  from  one  end  back  to  the  same  end.  Nail 

the  lower  edge  of  this  canvas  to  the  outside 

(  23  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

edge  of  the  "raft."  To  enable  you  to  raise 
these  "collapsible"  canvas  sides  and  to  keep 
them  hi  place,  make  a  stout  rail  that  will  be 
curved  to  the  shape  of  the  floor  of  the  "raft" 
and  nail  the  top  edge  of  the  canvas  on  to  it. 

This  now  "collapsible  boat,"  with  its  fold- 
ing canvas  sides,  is  of  course  shallow,  and 
about  three  or  four  of  them  can  be  nested 
on  the  deck  of  a  steamer  in  the  space  occu- 
pied by  a  "real  lifeboat."  There  is  a  canvas 
cover  laced  down  over  the  top  of  these  boats, 
the  same  as  on  regular  boats. 

Before  you  can  do  anything  with  a  collap- 
sible lifeboat  you  must  make  it  a  "real 
boat"  by  lifting  up  its  canvas  sides  and  lash- 
ing them  in  place  so  they  can't  collapse. 
Until  this  is  done  you  have  nothing  but  a 
"raft."  It  is  almost  impossible  to  lift  the  rail 
into  place  if  there  are  people  hanging  on  to  it, 
as  that  would  mean  lifting  the  people  as  well. 
Also,  you  can't  lift  the  sides,  which  automat- 
(24) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

ically  raise  the  cross  seats,  if  there  is  anyone 
lying  across  the  boat,  and  you  can't  get  on 
the  "raft"  without  getting  on  the  seats. 
We  tried  to  persuade  the  people  who  were 
hanging  on  to  the  rail  to  take  off  then*  hands 
and  hang  on  to  the  life  ropes  —  but  that  was 
impossible.  Never  have  I  heard  a  more  dis- 
tressing cry  of  despair  than  when  I  tried  to 
tell  one  of  them  that  that  was  what  we  were 
doing.  In  their  condition  I  don't  wonder 
they  thought  we  were  trying  to  push  them 
off.  So  we  had  to  take  some  aboard,  those 
who  were  in  the  most  panicky  condition,  and 
try  to  get  up  the  sides  with  the  "raft"  half 
covered  with  people. 

The  seats  of  these  boats  are  attached  to 
an  iron  brace  which  is  supposed  to  slide  on  a 
metal  run  in  the  middle  of  the  boat.  A 
wooden  brace  at  either  end  is  held  in  place  by 
a  pin  when  the  sides  are  raised  to  their  proper 
height,  but,  as  the  saying  is,  "There  warn't 
(25) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

no  pin"  and  the  wooden  brace  in  my  end  of 
the  boat  was  broken  and  the  metal  run  for  the 
iron  braces  of  the  seats  was  so  rusted  and  cor- 
roded that  it  wasn't  a  "run;"  so  there  we 
were,  back  to  a  raft  again. 

Not  an  oar  in  the  boat,  nor  even  a  stick  with 
which  to  reach  wreckage  so  that  we  could 
block  up  the  seats.  We  must  get  those  seats 
braced  up  to  give  us  the  protection  of  the  can- 
vas sides,  and  they  mustn't  fall  down  either, 
because  then  the  "boat"  became  a  "raft," 
the  people  became  a  little  more  panicky,  and 
the  falling  seats  hurt  and  slightly  injured  the 
people  sitting  between  them,  for  of  course 
we  had  to  seat  those  too  exhausted  to  pull 
and  haul  on  the  floor  between  the  seats. 
We  had  to  have  some  oars  too  to  make 
the  boat  navigable,  so  we  fished  round  in  the 
wreckage  and  were  fortunate  to  get  five  oars 
(one  broken,  but  that  served  me  as  a  steer- 
ing oar)  and  some  blocks.  Then  with  a  long 
(26) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

heave  and  a  heave  all  together  we  raised  the 
blasted  seats  as  far  as  possible,  but  not  to 
their  proper  height,  and  jammed  the  blocks 
under  them.  We  were  lucky  to  get  blocks 
that  act  as  supports  to  a  real  lifeboat,  which, 
as  you  know,  have  notches  cut  on  the  long 
side.  These  blocks  are  like  little  steps,  so 
that  we  were  able  to  shove  them  under  the 
seats  to  the  limit. 

About  the  fifth  man  aboard  the  boat  was 
a  chap  named  B ;  he  was  a  husky,  no  mis- 
take. He  weighed  about  200  pounds  and 

was  all  good  material.  This  man  G was 

another  good  one  too;  he  deserved  his  name. 
By  this  time  we  must  have  had  fifteen  peo- 
ple in  our  now  "non-collapsible  boat."  Let 
us  thank  God  for  the  "non." 

I  went  aft  and  took  the  steering  oar  and 

my  two  huskies,  B and  the  sailor  man, 

rowed  the  heavy  sweeps,  and  G stayed 

for'ard  to  help  the  people  in.  We  headed 
(27) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

back  into  the  wreckage  and  picked  up  those 
who  seemed  most  urgently  in  need. 

I  won't  enter  into  the  detail  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  poor  souls  we  got,  but  two  instances 
of  nerve  stand  out  so  clearly  in  my  mind  that 
I  must  tell  them.  Both  pertain  to  women, 
and  never  have  I  seen  greater  courage  and 
patience  shown  by  anyone. 

I  heard  a  call  near  my  end  of  the  boat  and 
told  the  boys  to  back  water,  and  I  reached 
over  and  pulled  hi  a  woman  who  I  thought 
at  first  glance  was  a  negress;  I  never  be- 
lieved a  white  woman  could  be  so  black.  I 
learned  afterwards  that  she  and  her  husband 
had  got  into  a  lifeboat,  and  while  he  was  busy 
helping  to  clear  it  she  got  panic-stricken  by 
the  tremendous  overhanging  funnels  and 
jumped  back  on  to  the  steamer  without  her 
husband  knowing  it.  She  was  aboard  when 
the  final  plunge  came,  and  the  suction  took 
her  part  way  down  one  of  the  funnels,  but 
(28) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

the  thankful  explosion  blew  her  forth,  out 
into  clear  water,  in  among  the  wreckage, 
where  she  could  hang  on.  The  clothes  were 
almost  blown  off  the  poor  woman,  and  there 
wasn't  a  white  spot  on  her  except  her  teeth 
and  the  whites  of  her  eyes.  Marvellous  to 
say  she  wasn't  hurt  and  proved  a  great  help 
in  cheering  us  all  by  her  bright  talk. 

For  coolness  I  think  this  second  case  is 
even  more  remarkable.  We  had  about  as 
many  hi  our  boat  as  we  ought  to  take  when 
I  heard  a  woman's  voice  say,  in  just  as  nat- 
ural a  tone  of  voice  as  you  would  ask  for 
another  slice  of  bread  and  butter,  "Won't 
you  take  me  next?  you  know  I  can't  swim." 
WTien  I  looked  over  into  the  mass  of  wreck- 
age from  which  this  voice  emanated  all  I 
could  see  was  a  woman's  head,  with  a  piece 
of  wreckage  under  her  chin  and  with  her 
hair  streaming  out  over  other  pieces  of  wreck- 
age. She  was  so  jammed  in  she  couldn't  even 
(  29  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

get  her  arms  out,  and  with  it  all  she  had  a  half 
smile  on  her  face  and  was  placidly  chewing 
gum.  The  last  I  saw  of  her  when  I  helped 
her  off  the  boat  at  Queenstown  was  that  she 
was  still  chewing  that  piece  of  gum,  and  I 
shouldn't  be  surprised  if  she  had  it  yet.  Of 
course,  we  couldn't  leave  her,  and  as  there 
was  no  possible  way  that  I  dared  try  to  get 
her  without  going  into  the  water  for  her,  I 
told  her  that  if  she'd  keep  cool  I'd  come 
after  her.  To  my  surprise  she  said  it  was 
not  at  all  necessary,  just  hand  her  an  oar 
and  she'd  hang  on.  That  is  the  last  thing 
in  the  world  I  should  ever  have  dared  to  do, 
for  naturally  I  thought,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  she  could  not  swim,  that  as  soon  as  I 
cleared  away  the  wreckage  with  an  oar  she'd 
get  rattled  and  sink.  After  what  she  had 
said  I  got  my  huskies  to  back  through  the 
wreckage  till  my  oar  would  reach  to  her. 
Then  I  placed  it  as  close  to  her  face  as  I 
(30) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

could  and  she  wriggled  around  and  got  her 
two  hands  on  the  oar,  held  fast,  and  we  pulled 
her  through. 

Then  we  rowed  for  the  shore.    G took 

the  for'ard  port  oar,  and  somewhere  in  the 
shuffle  we  had  picked  up  a  couple  of  the  stok- 
ers, and  while  they  weren't  very  big  men  they 
were  red-headed  cockneys  and  they  were 
trumps.  Their  conversation  was  something 
to  remember;  I  shall  never  forget  it.  They 

two  rowed  the  for'ard  starboard  oar,  B 

rowed  the  after  port  oar,  and  the  sailor  man 
rowed  the  after  starboard  oar.  Others  helped 
push  on  the  oars  and  so  we  had  a  good  crew. 
I  steered  for  a  lighthouse  on  the  coast,  for 
I  didn't  know  whether  the  Marconi  operator 
had  had  time  to  send  out  an  S.  O.  S.,  or  if 
he  had,  whether  or  not  it  had  been  picked  up. 
It  was  a  good  long  row  ashore  and  I  knew  we 
could  not  get  there  until  after  dark,  and  it 
was  much  better  to  land  on  a  shore,  however 
(31  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

barren,  near  a  lighthouse  than  to  land  on 
that  part  where  there  might  not  be  an  inhab- 
itant for  miles;  also  I  saw  the  sail  of  a  fisher- 
man between  us  and  the  lighthouse,  so  I 
had  two  goals  for  which  to  steer. 

The  lighthouse  for  which  we  were  steering 
was  that  on  the  Head  of  Old  Kinsale.  There 
were  already  two  real  lifeboats  between  us 
and  the  shore.  We  had  stayed  around  and 
picked  up  everyone  who  seemed  to  be  in  the 
most  helpless  condition.  Those  we  were 
forced  to  leave  were  as  safe  as  if  we  had  over- 
crowded them  into  our  flimsy  craft.  The 
calmness  of  the  sea  was  the  only  thing  that 
enabled  us  to  take  on  so  many,  with  any 
degree  of  safety. 

We  must  have  rowed  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  toward  shore,  when  off  in  the  distance 
I  saw  one  lone  man  floating  around  by  him- 
self. He  seemed  to  prefer  his  own  society  to 
anyone's  else  by  going  off  "on  his  own," 
(32) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

but  apparently  he  had  changed  his  mind  and 
got  lonesome,  for  he  sure  did  yell.  He  looked 
safe  enough,  as  he  had  one  of  the  big  round 
white  lifebuoys  around  his  body,  under  his 
arms,  and  he  was  perfectly  safe  from  sinking. 
I  was  pretty  sure  that  according  to  the  rules 
of  the  blessed  "Board  of  Trade"  we  had 
all  the  people  in  our  boat  that  our  license 
would  allow  us  to  carry.  Still  I  headed  for 
the  chap,  for  you  couldn't  go  off  and  leave 
that  one  more  soul  float  ing  around.  It  was 
lucky  we  went  for  him  for  he  was  in  pretty 
bad  shape,  but  recovered  all  right  after  we 
got  him  ashore.  This  chap  turned  out  to  be 

McM ,  a  fine  Canadian  fellow  and  a  man 

of  some  experience  in  shipwreck,  for  he  was 
on  the  Republic  when  she  sank. 

After  rowing  about  two  miles  we  came  up 

to  the  fishing  smack,  and  although  they  had 

already  taken  on  two  boatloads,  they  made 

room  for  us.     Before  anyone  left  our  boat 

(33  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

I  counted  heads  and  found  we  had  32  aboard ! 
It  wasn't  just  the  time  to  hunt  souvenirs, 
but  I  took  my  steersman's  oarlock  with  me; 
it  will  do  for  a  paper  weight. 

Aboard  the  fisherman  I  witnessed  one  of 
the  most  affecting  scenes  of  all.  It  seems 
that  the  husband  of  the  temporary  negress  we 
picked  up  was  aboard,  and  as  we  approached 
she  recognized  him  and  called  to  him;  but 
he  stood  at  the  rail  with  a  perfectly  blank 
expression  on  his  face  and  refused  to  recognize 
his  own  wife.  Not  until  we  were  directly 
alongside  and  he  could  lean  over  and  look  the 
woman  squarely  in  the  face  did  he  realize 
that  his  wife  had  been  given  back  to  him. 

The  old  fishermen  did  everything  in  their 
power  for  us;  they  pulled  up  all  the  blankets 
from  their  bunks,  they  started  the  fire  and 
made  us  tea  while  tea  lasted,  and  after  that 
boiled  us  water.  The  old  ship  was  positively 
slippery  with  fish  scales  and  the  usual  dirt 
(34) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

of  fishermen,  but  the  deck  of  that  boat, 
under  our  feet,  felt  as  good  as  the  front 
halls  of  our  own  homes. 

The  sight  aboard  that  craft  was  a  pitiful 
one,  for  while  most  of  the  first  two  boat- 
loads of  people  that  got  aboard  were  dry, 
many  of  them  had  in  their  excitement  re- 
moved much  of  their  clothing  before  getting 
into  the  boat  and  consequently  were,  by 
this  time,  pretty  thoroughly  chilled.  Those 
in  my  boat  were  in  the  saddest  condition, 
for  each  one  had  been  thoroughly  soaked 
and  some  of  them  had  been  through  terrible 
experiences.  There  is  practically  no  cabin 
on  one  of  these  little  fishermen,  so  all  hands 
had  to  stay  on  deck,  except  a  few  that  were 
able  to  help  themselves  down  into  the  so- 
called  cabin.  The  worst  injured  of  course 
had  to  stay  on  deck.  I  gave  my  sweater  to 
a  chap  who  had  on  nothing  but  an  under- 
shirt and  a  pair  of  trousers,  and  I  loaned  my 
(35  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

coat  to  a  woman  until  we  got  into  Queens- 
town.  There  were  not  nearly  enough  blan- 
kets aboard  for  each  to  have  one.  There 
were  over  80  people  on  that  small  boat. 

After  being  aboard  about  an  hour  we  were 
picked  up  by  the  steamer  Flying  Fish 
which  had  come  down  from  Queenstown. 
We  were  made  comfortable  on  this  good  old 
packet.  You  will  remember  she  is  a  side- 
wheeler  and  one  of  the  tenders  that  came 
out  to  meet  the  ocean  steamers  before  they 
were  not  too  proud  to  stop  at  Queenstown. 

The  ocean  was  so  calm  that  when  we 
transferred  our  passengers  to  the  Flying 
Fish  we  were  able  to  lay  the  fisherman 
alongside  the  steamer  and  those  who  could 
stepped  across.  The  two  boats  lay  so  close 
and  steadily  together  that  we  carried  our 
cripples  across  in  our  arms.  The  smooth- 
ness of  the  ocean  must  have  been  a  special 
dispensation  from  Heaven. 
(36) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

We  were  torpedoed  at  8  minutes  past  2. 
I  went  overboard  and  my  watch  stopped  at 
9:30  Boston  time,  2:30  Greenwich.  I 
figure  I  was  hi  the  water  three  or  four  min- 
utes before  my  watch  stopped.  I  think  the 
sweater  which  I  had  on  under  my  coat 
and  the  life  belt  that  I  had  tied  on  made 
it  slower  work  for  the  water  to  get  at  my 
watch. 

We  must  have  been  an  hour  and  a  half 
getting  the  boat  into  shape  and  picking  up 
the  people  from  the  wreckage,  and  we  must 
have  been  rowing  two  hours  before  we  reached 
the  fishing  smack  at  6:00. 

By  7:00  we  were  on  the  Flying  Fish,  and 
tied  up  to  the  pier  in  Queenstown  at  9:15,  so 
you  see  we  fared  quite  well.  It  was  quite 
ludicrous  to  be  held  up  by  the  patrol  boat 
at  the  mouth  of  Queenstown  Harbour  and 
to  be  asked  in  formal  tones,  "What  ship  is 
that?"  and  to  hear  the  captain  reply, 
(37) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

"The  ship  Flying  Fish,  with  survivors  of 
the  Lusitania."  Word  was  immediately 
given  us  to  go  on. 

This  is  where  there  came  very  near 
being  a  real  fight.  It  happened  this  way — 
Two  steamers  had  passed  the  Flying  Fish 
on  the  way  in  and  were  tied  up  at  the  Cunard 
dock  ahead  of  us,  so  we  were  told  to  land 
at  the  dock  below.  That  was  all  very 
well,  but  the  captain  informed  us  that  we 
couldn't  go  ashore  until  he  had  reported  to 
the  "inspector."  I  knew  that  the  100  odd 
people  that  we  had  on  the  Flying  Fish 
didn't  care  about  any  "inspector"  that  ever 
grew  in  the  town  of  Queenstown,  but  what 
they  wanted  and  needed  and  ought  to  have 
was  hot  drink  and  food  just  as  soon  as  they 
could  get  it.  The  captain,  with  true  Irish 
stubbornness,  went  to  do  his  duty  ashore  as 
"he  seen  it."  We  let  the  captain  get  around 

the  corner  out  of  sight  and  then  G and 

(38) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

I  started  to  put  the  gangplank  over,  but 
were  told  by  some  figure  standing  on  the  dock 
that  we  must  wait  for  the  captain's  return. 
We  gave  this  figure,  whom  we  presume  was 
a  guard,  three  seconds  to  get  out  of  the  way 
or  get  knocked  down  by  the  gangplank. 
He  moved,  and  we  ran  out  the  gangplank 
and  handed  our  passengers  ashore.  Those 
who  were  able  to  navigate  by  themselves 
walked  up  the  streets  to  the  various  hotels. 
Then  we  got  down  to  our  two  cripples:  one 
was  a  man  in  our  collapsible  lifeboat  and 
one  a  woman  we  found  on  the  fishing  smack. 
Each  had  a  broken  leg.  And  right  here  let  me 
tell  you  an  instance  of  nerve  displayed  by 

this  man  B ,  whose  leg  was  broken.    We 

had  taken  him  into  our  boat  before  we  got 
the  seats  braced  up,  for  he  was  in  pretty 
bad  shape  and  we  were  afraid  to  leave  him 
longer  in  the  water.  He  was  in  the  bottom 
of  the  boat,  partially  sitting  on  one  of  the 
(39) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

seats,  and  when  we  endeavored  to  heave  up 
on  them,  I  spoke  to  him  rather  roughly  and 
asked  him  if  he  couldn't  get  off.  He  looked 
up  to  me  with  half  a  smile  and  said,  "I 
would,  old  chap;  but  did  you  know  I  have 
a  broken  leg  and  can't  move  very  fast?"  I 
was  careful  how  I  spoke  after  that! 

I  went  ashore  to  see  if  I  could  find  an  am- 
bulance or  stretchers.  A  little  way  up  the 
street  in  front  of  the  Cunard  office  I  found 
about  20  Naval  Reserve  men  drawn  up  in 
squares  of  four;  each  squad  was  armed  with 
a  folding  canvas  stretcher.  They  were  as  fine 
a  lot  of  men  as  I  ever  saw,  and  when  I  told 
them  I  had  two  cripples  and  needed  two 
stretchers  they  didn't  wait  there  for  any 
commands  from  a  real  officer;  they  just 
asked  me  where  were  they,  and  I  marched 
them  down  to  the  boat  double  quick. 

It  was  low  tide  when  we  got  into  Queens- 
town  and  consequently  the  landing  had  to  be 
(40) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

made  from  the  top  of  the  paddle  box.  This 
necessitated  all  hands  going  up  a  very  narrow 
companion-way,  built  on  the  side  of  the 
paddle  box  and  so  too  narrow  and  too  steep 
to  permit  the  carrying  of  a  stretcher.  I 
went  aboard  and  carried  the  two  cripples 
ashore  on  my  back.  To  get  them  ashore 
this  way  must  have  hurt  them  terribly,  but 
never  a  groan  from  the  woman  nor  from  the 
man.  The  fact  that  injured  people  could 
show  such  nerve  as  this  gave  us  fellows  who 
were  not  injured  the  physical  strength  to 
do  all  that  we  did  do. 

One  of  the  women  in  our  boat  went  along 
with  the  girl  with  the  broken  leg  to  the 
hospital,  and  so  I  felt  she'd  be  well  taken  care 

of.    This  chap  B refused  to  let  anyone 

accompany   him   to   the   Marine   Hospital, 
having  perfect  confidence  in  the  four  Naval 
Reserve  men  who  carried  the  stretcher,  and 
certainly  that  confidence  was  justified. 
(41  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

The  last  chap  we  picked  up  in  the  boat, 

McM ,  had  a  badly  sprained  ankle,  and 

as  I  seemed  about  the  right  height  he  was 
using  me  as  a  human  crutch. 

When  we  went  up  the  street  in  Queens- 
town  it  was  filled  with  people  willing  to 
help  and  do  anything  hi  their  power  to  relieve 
our  sufferings.  I  have  heard  stories  of 
Scottish  hospitality,  but  I  never  saw  any- 
thing more  spontaneous  or  genuine  or  more 
freely  given  than  the  Irish  hospitality  of 
Queenstown. 

McM and  I  were  hi  pretty  good 

shape  and  were  well  dried  off,  and  while  his 
ankle  pained  him  a  good  deal  and  I  was  pretty 
much  cut  up  around  the  forehead  and  nose 
by  the  aerial,  we  were  able  to  navigate  by 
ourselves. 

We  went  directly  to  the  Post  Office  and 
I  sent  my  "Safe  and  Sound"  cable  to  you 

people.  Then  McM and  I  went  up  the 

'(  42  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

street,  and  the  hospitality  of  Queenstown 
storekeepers,  inspired  by  the  idea  of  mak- 
ing a  few  extra  sales  had  caused  them 
to  open  their  shops  at  that  time  of  night, 
and  we  went  in  and  bought  a  couple  of  sets 
of  pajamas  of  the  thickest  wool  that  I  ever 
put  on.  "Out-sizes"  they  were,  but  they 
proved  none  too  "out."  About  the  second 
time  they  are  washed  I  expect  they  will  fit 
the  boy,  but  they  felt  mighty  comfortable 
that  night. 

We  had  quite  a  time  finding  a  place  to 
rest  our  weary  heads  and  warm  our  chilled 
bodies.  I  kept  away  from  the  two  main 
hotels,  because  I  knew  they  were  filled  with 
the  people  who  arrived  on  the  first  two 
steamers.  When  we  got  near  the  centre  of 
the  town  I  asked  a  native  to  tell  us  of  some 
small  place  where  we  could  get  rooms.  He 
directed  us  to  the  little  hostelry  "Imperial 
Bar."  It  was  a  perfectly  appropriate  name. 
(43) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

The  hospitality  of  the  manageress  was  "Im- 
perial" and  the  "Bar"  was  good. 

At  the  door  we  found  a  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

K .  He  was  badly  injured.  He  had 

been  brought  to  the  hotel  by  the  reserves  on 
a  stretcher.  He  was  not  in  bad  enough 
shape  to  go  to  a  hospital,  but  he  couldn't 

walk.  The  K 's  got  a  double  room  and 

McM and  I  took  the  other  spare 

room. 

He  turned  in  and  I  turned  out.  I  went 
down  into  the  town,  for  I  knew  I  could  be 
of  help  to  some  of  the  survivors.  I  got  back 
at  midnight  and  went  to  bed.  I  didn't 
have  to  lie  awake  and  think  about  going  to 
sleep,  for  I  had  been  standing  and  moving 
around  under  a  strain  for  some  10  hours, 
so  I  just  passed  off  into  a  dead,  dreamless 
sleep.  My  clothes  were  almost  dry,  and  I 
wasn't  suffering  from  a  chill.  We  have  al- 
ways heard  that  Scottish  hospitality  is  ac- 
(44) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

companied  by  a  draught  of  the  national 
beverage,  and  in  justice  to  the  old  landlady  I 
must  say  that  she  didn't  omit  to  give  me  a 
draught  of  the  Irish  national  beverage.  She 
told  me  it  was  made  by  her  old  grandfather, 
and  certainly  he  knows  how  to  make  Irish 

whiskey!     I    woke    up   McM and   we 

repeated  the  dose  on  him.  He  didn't  cry  at 
being  waked  up  in  a  good  cause! 

Saturday  morning  I  was  up  and  dressed  at 
six  o'clock,  and  the  dear  old  woman  gave  me 
a  dish  of  tea  and  some  bread  and  butter  in 
the  kitchen,  and  I  started  for  the  town  to  buy 
some  raiment  for  people  that  I  knew  were 
practically  destitute.  I  had  dressed  in  the 
kitchen,  where  it  was  warm  and  my  clothes 
were  dry.  My  wardrobe  was  complete,  even 
to  my  shoes,  for  I  had  not  removed  anything 
when  I  went  overboard.  The  landlady  had 
kept  the  fire  going  all  night  and  had  dried  all 
our  apparel,  but  as  the  other  three  were  not 
(45) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

going  out  as  early  as  I  was  she  gave  mine  the 
preference,  and  I  left  the  house  feeling  warm 
and  comfortable. 

As  I  walked  down  from  our  little  hotel  I 
shall  never  forget  that  beautiful  morning  in 
the  quaint  old  town  of  Queenstown.  The 
sun  was  shining  warmly,  and  hardly  a  breath 
of  air  was  stirring.  As  the  day  grew  older 
and  the  people  who  had  been  rescued  turned 
out  into  the  street,  it  was  as  sad  a  sight  as 
I  ever  care  to  see.  It  was  surprising  that  so 
many  people  had  removed  most  of  their 
clothing  before  taking  to  the  water  the  day 
before. 

I  found  many  who  had  no  ready  cash,  and 
I  soon  made  good  use  of  the  English  pounds 
I  had  bought  before  I  left  home.  Then  I 
bethought  myself  of  the  £40.0.0  draft  I 
had.  I  had  not  *'  crossed  "  this,  so  it  was  good 
for  cash  if  I  could  get  anybody  to  cash  it. 

The  bank  doesn't  open  at  Queenstown  until 
(46) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

10  o'clock,  and  you  can  bet  I  was  there  at 
ten  minutes  to.  I  rang  the  bell  and  got  in- 
side, took  out  the  still  half-soaked  draft, 
endorsed  it  in  the  presence  of  the  cashier, 
handed  it  in  and  said  I  would  take  the 
£40.0.0  half  in  gold  and  half  in  paper.  He 
told  me  he  didn't  know  me;  and  I  told  him 
that  didn't  make  any  difference,  I  didn't 
know  him.  He  said  he  couldn't  guarantee 
my  signature,  but  I  told  him  that  I  thought 
my  signature  was  as  good  as  his  money.  I 
produced  my  soaked  passport  and  showed  him 
my  autograph  on  that,  to  compare  with  that 
on  the  draft,  and  I  told  him  that  I  had  about 
12  half -starved,  half -naked  Americans  that 
had  to  be  fed  and  clothed,  and  certainly  his 
big  Irish  heart  wouldn't  permit  him  to  refuse 
to  cash  an  honest  draft.  I  told  him  I  in- 
tended to  stay  right  there  until  I  got  it;  and 
I  did,  and  I  talked  to  him  a  steady  string, 
and  I  didn't  get  a  bit  hard-hearted  when 
(47  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

he  told  me  he'd  probably  lose  his  job  if  the 
draft  turned  out  bad.  The  £40.0.0  was  a 
God-send.  I  divided  it  up  into  as  small 
fractions  as  possible,  and  it  was  able  to  help 
out  a  number  of  people. 

Right  here  I  want  to  say  that  the  United 
States  consul  at  Queenstown,  Wesley  Frost, 
is  a  real  man,  and  before  noon  word  had 
been  passed  around  that  Ambassador  Page 
had  sent  him  plenty  of  funds  for  all  Ameri- 
cans. Perhaps  if  I  had  known  this  money 
was  coming,  I  wouldn't  have  given  that  hon- 
est Irish  paying  teller  in  the  bank  such  an 
attack  of  heart  disease. 

Then  I  went  back  to  the  "Bar"  and  my 
landlady  gave  me  a  real  breakfast,  for  I  felt 
that  I  needed  to  get  stoked  up  a  bit  before  I 
took  on  the  unhappy  task  of  viewing  the 
bodies  to  see  if  I  could  identify  any  of  my 
fellow  passengers.  It  was  a  hard  thing  to 
put  through,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  it  was 
(48) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

without  satisfactory  results,  for  I  found  not 
one  that  I  knew. 

In  the  slip  beside  the  Cunard  wharf  there 
were  six  lifeboats,  Nos.  1,  11,  13,  15,  19,  and 
21;  these  were  all  starboard  boats,  and  you 
will  notice  what  a  jump  there  is  between 
the  numbers  1  and  11.  As  the  ship  went 
down  by  the  head,  of  course  it  gave  more 
time  to  clear  the  after  boats  which  carry  the 
higher  numbers.  I  didn't  see  one  boat  suc- 
cessfully cleared  from  the  port  side. 

I  had  decided  to  go  through  that  day  to 
London  on  the  3  o'clock  train  and  help 
through  the  K 's.  McM ,  my  bed- 
fellow, had  found  his  friend  L ,  and  as  he 

was  in  good  hands  and  wanted  to  rest  up  a 
bit  he  decided  to  stay.  There  was  no  chance 

of  getting  K up  on  to  a  jaunting  car, 

he  was  suffering  too  much,  so  I  went  out  into 

the  street  and  held  up  a  private  motor  car, 

for  you  couldn't  hire  one  in  Queenstown,  and 

(49) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

after  a  few  words  of  explanation  the  owner 
came  gladly  to  the  hotel  and  took  Mr.  and 

Mrs.  K to  the  station. 

We  had  a  comfortable  trip  to  Kingstown 
and  got  aboard  the  Irish  mail  packet  for  an- 
other little  trip  on  the  water.  We  had  tele- 
graphed ahead  for  a  cabin,  and  we  got  K 

stretched  out  in  one  of  the  berths  and  made 
him  as  comfortable  as  we  could.  He  slept 

from  sheer  exhaustion.    Mrs.  K and  I 

half  sat  up  on  the  opposite  sofa.  Shortly  the 
steamer  was  under  way.  It  was  not  what  you 
would  call  a  desirable  cabin,  for  it  was  directly 
over  the  engines  and  they  pounded  terrifically; 
I'll  admit  that  about  every  throb  of  the  en- 
gines went  through  the  pit  of  my  stomach, 
but  finally  I  dozed  off,  for  I  was  pretty  much 
"all  in."  I  must  have  waked  at  intervals  of 
ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  and  on  looking  out  of 
the  corner  of  my  eye  at  Mrs.  K I  saw 

one  of  the  most  charming  pieces  of  devotion 
(50) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

that  I  have  ever  witnessed.  I  am  confident 
she  never  closed  her  eyes  all  night  nor  did  she 
take  them  off  her  husband's  face  —  she  just 
silently  watched.  I  had  slept  about  an  hour, 
when  I  went  up  on  deck  to  see  what  was  doing. 
In  passing  through  the  saloon  a  weird  sight 
met  my  eyes  and  one  that  I  am  glad  the 

K 's  did  not  see.     Every  man  who  had 

been  a  passenger  on  the  Lusitania  was  sitting 
by  a  table  or  reclining  on  a  couch,  with  a  life- 
belt strapped  around  him.  Many  had  the 
original  ones  from  the  Lusitania.  It  was 
certainly  "a  gloom."  I  went  up  on  deck 
and  that  was  still  more  weird.  Not  a  light 
to  be  seen;  every  porthole  was  heavily  cur- 
tained and  heavy  canvas  was  stretched  along 
the  side,  and  the  only  thing  visible  was  the 
masthead  light.  It  was  blowing  half  a  gale 
and  we  were  making  23.8  knots  per  hour. 
As  I  came  around  the  corner  from  the 
shelter  of  the  cabin  the  wind  nearly  struck 
(51) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

me  off  my  feet.  The  canvas  was  slatting 
back  and  forth  with  reports  like  cannon,  and 
I  clung  to  the  rail  fascinated  by  this  wild  dash. 
Would  that  the  "  Lucy  "  had  shown  such  speed ! 
There  was  a  haze  that  could  almost  be  called 
a  fog,  but  no  horn  was  sounded  as  we  tore 
through  the  black  night.  I  crawled  back  to 
the  shelter  of  the  cuddy  and  there  found  the 
second  Officer.  He  was  a  fine  chap  and  we 
had  a  chat  in  his  cabin.  That  wild  dash  I 
shan't  forget  for  one  while! 

We  arrived  on  time  at  Holyhead  and  I 
found  the  stateroom  on  the  train  for  which  I 
had  wired.  Clad  in  that  famous  pan*  of  Irish 
pajamas,  before  the  train  hauled  out  of  the 
station  I  was  dead  to  the  world.  It  must  have 
been  just  about  one  o'clock  A.M.  I  knew 
nothing  until  quarter  to  seven,  when  the 
attendant  told  me  that  we  would  arrive  at 
Euston  in  15  minutes.  He  brought  in  a  dish 

of  tea  and  some  bread  and  butter.    Ye  gods, 
(52) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

didn't  that  taste  good!  I  had  had  no  food 
for  twelve  hours.  I  asked  him  for  a  repeat 
order.  Then  I  went  back  in  the  train  and 
found  the  K 's,  and  they  were  quite  re- 
freshed and  told  me  not  to  bother  with  them 
longer,  as  they  could  manage  to  get  in  a  taxi 
as  soon  as  they  were  dressed.  They  were 
going  to  her  parents,  who  live  in  London. 

I  left  them  for  a  moment  saying  that  I 
would  return  and  stepped  out  on  the  plat- 
form. Euston  Station  at  seven  o'clock  on 
a  Sunday  morning  is  generally  not  a  lively 
place,  and  I  didn't  think  that  there  would  be 
anyone  there,  or  at  least  not  more  than  a  few 
people  to  meet  friends.  I  hadn't  stepped  a 
foot  from  the  door  of  the  coach  when  I  was 
almost  mobbed  by  a  bunch  of  reporters. 
Talk  of  it.  Good  heavens,  I  wanted  quiet; 
I  didn't  want  to  be  interviewed.  I  stood  per- 
fectly still  and  never  said  a  word;  they  must 
have  thought  I  was  tongue-tied.  Then  a 
(53) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

poor  old  woman  pushed  her  way  through 
and  asked  me,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  if  I 
had  seen  "Johnny  Keene."  How  could  I 
answer  her?  From  her  appearance  I  judge 
he  must  have  been  a  stoker  or  in  the  third 
cabin.  I  told  her  as  gently  as  I  could  that 
I  hadn't  seen  him,  but  many  others  were 
coming  through  in  the  second  and  third 
sections  and  he  might  be  among  them. 
When  the  reporters  found  they  couldn't  get 
anything  out  of  me  they  cleared  out,  and 
I  was  surrounded  by  friends  and  relatives  of 
the  passengers,  who  asked  me  a  dozen  ques- 
tions, but  I  couldn't  give  any  cheerful  answers. 
My  nerve  wasn't  any  too  good  for  this  ordeal, 
and  I  was  fast  breaking  down  when  a  young 
man  pushed  through  and  asked  me  if  I  was 
an  American.  When  I  told  him  "  Yes  "  he 
said  that  he  was  secretary  to  Ambassador 
Page,  and  was  there  anything  he  could  do 
for  me.  I  almost  fell  on  his  neck  with  joy, 
(54  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

and  he  took  me  down  to  where  the  Ambas- 
sador was  standing  and  introduced  me  to  him. 
It  was  a  pleasure  to  hear  Ambassador  Page 
say,  "What,  not  the  son  of  the  Mr.  Lauriat 
of  Boston"!  So  you  see,  my  father,  your 
name  is  not  without  honour  in  your  own 
city.  The  Ambassador's  sympathy  was 
warmly  expressed,  and  he  was  putting  me 
into  the  Embassy  motor  car  —  for  I  didn't 
care  where  I  went  as  long  as  I  got  away  from 
that  station  platform — when  I  saw  Mr.  Wai- 
ford  coming  down  the  platform.  I  excused 
myself  and  stopped  him. 

I  had  wired  Mr.  Walford  (our  resident 
London  agent)  before  leaving  Queenstown, 
asking  him  to  meet  me  if  convenient  and  to 
have  a  taxi.  I  knew  that  he  lived  far  out  in 
the  suburbs,  and  that  if  he  were  not  fore- 
warned there  would  be  no  way  of  his  getting 
to  the  station  on  Sunday  morning.  Pre- 
viously hi  the  day  (Saturday)  when  I  had 
(55) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

wired  him  to  cable  you,  I  had  added  the 
words  that  I  would  wire  my  plans  later  in 
the  day.  This  second  wire  which  I  sent  from 
Queenstown  did  not  reach  him,  although  he 
waited  at  his  shop  until  8  o'clock  Saturday 
night. 

He  had  decided  that  if  there  was  any  way 
of  getting  directly  through  to  London  that 
I  would  come.  So  he  set  his  clock  for  4 
A.M.,  got  up,  made  himself  a  cup  of  tea, 
and  walked  from  his  house  to  Euston,  a  dis- 
tance of  9  miles — that's  some  demonstration 
of  friendship! 

He  insisted  that  I  come  to  his  house,  and 
I  certainly  wanted  to  do  so,  for  his  home 
looked  better  to  me  than  the  Hotel  Kings- 
ley  or  the  Embassy.  I  took  Mr.  Walford 
back  to  the  Ambassador  and  introduced 
him.  On  explaining  the  situation  to  Mr. 
Page  he  told  me  by  all  means  to  follow  my 

own  wishes. 

(56) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

We  arrived  at  the  home  in  the  suburbs 
and  Mrs.  Walford  was  there  to  give  me  a 
hearty  welcome.  I  must  have  been  a  "sad 
sketch"  as  I  walked  into  their  hospitable 
home.  I  had  no  hat,  for  I  hadn't  spent  the 
time  to  get  one  at  Queenstown  and  I  knew 
I  had  one  here  hi  London.  I  hadn't  had  a 
comb  in  my  hair  since  I  got  up  Friday  noon. 
All  my  worldly  possessions  were  in  a  small 
" brown-paper  parcel"  tucked  under  my 
arm;  so  even  Ben  Franklin  didn't  have  much 
on  me  when  he  struck  Philadelphia  in  the 
old  days,  as  the  story  goes. 

After  breakfast  they  tucked  me  into  bed 
with  a-big-fat-hot-water-bottle,  and  after  a 
few  hours'  sleep  under  that  hospitable  roof 
I  was  quite  myself  again.  A  hot  tub  and 
shave  put  on  the  final  touches. 

Monday  morning,  despite  their  kind  invi- 
tation to  stay  with  them  as  long  as  I  wished,  I 
felt  I  ought  to  take  up  my  abode  at  the  Hotel 
(57) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Kingsley  and  commence  picking  up  the 
threads  of  business,  although  I  knew  I  should 
feel  pretty  much  lost  when  I  had  not  a 
single  memorandum  "to  get  on  with."  My 
small  leather  case  containing  all  my  business 
papers  had  gone  down  with  the  Lusitania. 
Think  of  a  "  Lauriat "  trying  to  do  business 
without  a  lot  of  neat  little  folders  sitting 
around  his  desk! 

I  shall  follow  with  keen  interest  the 
Official  Inquiry  to  be  held  by  Lord  Mersey, 
for  I  want  to  see  if  these  points  are  brought 
out:  — 

1.  WHAT  were  the  instructions  from  the 
Admiralty   for   the  navigation   of   the   ship 
and  were  they  carefully  followed  out? 

2.  WHY  were  we  not  running  top  speed? 

3.  WHY  were  the  portholes  on  decks  D 
open?    Never  mind  the  "why,"  but  I  should 
like    to    have    the    fact    established    as    to 

whether  they  were  or  were  not  open. 
(58) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

4.  WHY  did  Captain  Turner  and  Cap- 
tain Anderson  give  orders  to  the  crew  to 
"Stop  lowering  the  boats"  on  the  port  side 
and  for  the  passengers  "to  get  out  of  the 
boats"?  That  is  the  exact  phraseology  they 
used.  It  seemed  to  me  that  boats  on  the 
port  side  should  have  been  lowered  at  once 
as  the  more  the  steamer  listed  the  less  pos- 
sible it  would  be  to  clear  them. 
.  There  are  three  suggestions  I  shall  hope  to 
see  put  before  the  Board  that  are  based  on  the 
experiences  of  the  catastrophe.  They  are :  — 

1.  The  thing  that  impressed  me  most  as 
the  people  rushed  back  and  forth  on  the 
steamer  was  that  more  than  half  of  those 
who  had  on  life  jackets  had  them  on  incor- 
rectly. I  should  like  to  see  recommended  to 
the  Board  that  a  law  (international,  if  possi- 
ble) be  passed,  that  when  a  person  buys  a 
steamship  ticket  for  a  transatlantic  crossing, 
no  matter  for  what  class,  he  or  she  shall 
(59) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

be  obliged  to  put  on  a  sample  life  jacket, 
which  shall  always  be  kept  in  the  main  of- 
fices of  the  steamship  company  and  in  the 
offices  of  all  their  agents,  and  that  the  pros- 
pective passenger  shall  be  obliged  to  put  it 
on,  fasten  it  to  him,  and  walk  around  the 
office  four  or  five  times  until  he  gets  familiar 
with  the  touch  of  it  and  knows  how  to  put 
it  on  correctly.  It  is  all  very  well  to  hang  up 
neat  little  signs  in  the  staterooms  telling 
passengers  how  to  put  them  on  and  showing 
where  the  jackets  are,  but  from  what  I  saw 
on  the  Lusitania  I  don't  believe  one  person 
in  fifty  follows  these  suggestions. 

Of  course  I  can  hear  the  steamship  com- 
panies remonstrate  and  say  that  this  sugges- 
tion is  inconvenient,  impracticable,  etc.,  etc.; 
but  as  long  as  people  cross  the  ocean  there 
will  be  such  disasters  as  the  Titanic  and  the 
Empress  of  Ireland,  but  we  hope  never 

again  such  a  tragedy  as  the  Lusitania. 
(60) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

If  it  is  convenient  for  the  prospective 
passenger  to  put  on  the  life  jacket,  his  ticket 
should  be  so  stamped  with  some  large 
distinctive  mark  as  to  show  that  he  has 
complied  with  the  law.  Those  who  have  not 
tried  on  the  life  jacket  should  not  have  the 
ticket  stamped;  but  immediately  after  leav- 
ing port,  when  the  tickets  are  collected,  they 
should  be  examined,  and  all  those  passen- 
gers who  have  not  complied  with  the  law 
shall  be  looked  out  by  an  officer  and  then 
instructed  as  to  where  the  life  jackets  are 
in  the  staterooms  and  how  to  put  them  on. 
Certainly  in  this  way  people  would  become 
familiar  with  the  sight  and  touch  of  a  life 
jacket,  and  in  a  disaster,  the  passenger  would 
be  spared  that  additional  shock  that  comes 
to  the  stoutest  heart  when  one  puts  it  on 
for  the  first  time  —  plus  the  existing  neces- 
sity. 

2.  I  should  like  to  see  recommended 
(61  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

that  large  chests  of  life  belts  be  kept  on  the 
upper  decks,  for  in  a  catastrophe  like  that  of 
last  Friday  it  was  impossible  for  some  people 
to  go  below  to  get  life  belts.  They  had 
neither  the  time  nor  the  courage.  We  could 
have  helped  a  lot  and  saved  more  if  we  had 
had  more  life  belts  at  hand  that  we  could 
have  tied  on  to  the  passengers. 

3.  These  collapsible  boats  should  be 
opened  on  the  deck  during  each  passage  of 
the  steamer,  and  it  should  be  assured  that 
the  metal  running  gear  is  thoroughly  greased 
and  runs  smoothly.  There  should  be  some 
oars  in  the  boat,  for  had  there  been  a  sea  on 
when  this  catastrophe  happened,  of  what 
earthly  use  would  this  boat  have  been  with- 
out an  oar  with  which  even  to  steer?  Under 
the  conditions  in  which  we  worked  it  was 
easy  enough  to  get  oars,  but  we  never  could 
have  got  them  if  it  had  been  at  all  rough. 


The  plans  of  the  Lusitania  here  reproduced 
are  from  "Engineering"  (London)  in  the  issue 
for  May  14th,  1915. 

I  think  they  are  the  plans  originally  published 
in  that  magazine  when  the  boat  was  first  put  into 
commission  in  1907.  The  arrangement  and  num- 
ber of  the  lifeboats  were  changed  a  few  years 
back  and  were  different  from  those  shown  in  the 
plan.  On  her  last  voyage  there  were  eleven  on 
each  side,  slung  higher  to  allow  space  for  the 
collapsible  lifeboats  that  rested  on  the  deck  un- 
der the  regular  lifeboats.  Also,  this  plan  does  not 
show  the  extra  collapsible  lifeboats  that  were 
nested  out  on  the  after  deck.  The  launch  that  is 
indicated  on  the  plan,  I  did  not  see. 


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PART  II 


PART  II 

THE  foregoing  is  the  crude  Narrative  prac- 
tically verbatim  as  I  sent  it  home  to  my 
people.  My  first  thought  was  to  rewrite  it 
and  embody  it  in  the  following,  but  I  prefer 
to  let  it  stand  as  I  gave  it  to  the  typist  in  our 
London  office,  reciting  the  tale  to  her  as  the 
events,  still  vivid  in  my  mind,  passed  men- 
tally before  me. 

In  this  second  part  I  have  tried  to  round 
out  the  Narrative  by  adding  details  which 
would  answer  questions  arising  from  read- 
ing Part  One. 

On  boarding  the  Lusitania  on  May  1  in 

New  York  I  found  the  usual  company  of 

passengers  and  many  friends  to  bid  them 

"bon  voyage."    I  was  surprised  that  access 

(65) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  the  steamer  was  allowed  so  freely.  The 
two  members  of  my  family  who  accompanied 
me  were  allowed  to  pass  aboard  without 
question. 

NOTICE ! 

rilRAVELLERS  intending  to  em- 
A  bark  on  the  Atlantic  voyage  are 
reminded  that  a  state  of  war  exists 
between  Germany  and  her  allies  and 
Great  Britain  and  her  allies;  that 
the  zone  of  war  includes  the  waters 
adjacent  to  the  British  Isles;  that, 
in  accordance  with  formal  notice 
given  by  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment, vessels  flying  the  flag  of 
Great  Britain,  or  of  any  of  her  allies, 
are  liable  to  destruction  hi  those 
waters  and  that  travellers  sailing 
in  the  war  zone  on  ships  of  Great 
Britain  or  her  allies  do  so  at  their 
own  risk. 

IMPERIAL   GERMAN  EMBASSY. 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  22,  1915. 

(  66) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Naturally  I  saw  the  notice  issued  by  the 
Imperial  German  Embassy,  published  in  all 
of  the  New  York  papers  of  May  1.  On  the 
opposite  page  I  reprint  the  whole  notice  issued 
by  the  Embassy  in  order  to  correct  the  errone- 
ous impression  I  find  held  by  many  people, 
that  the  Lusitania  was  specified  in  it. 

It  is  a  coincidence  that  this  notice  ap- 
peared in  some  of  the  New  York  papers 
beside  the  advertisement  of  the  proposed 
sailings  of  the  Cunard  Line.  Like  many 
other  passengers  I  gave  the  notice  no  serious 
thought.  No  idea  of  cancelling  my  trip 
occurred  to  me.  I  did  not  sail  with  a  feeling 
of  defiance  towards  the  Embassy,  either  for 
the  notice  or  for  any  action  that  might  follow; 
but  I  admit  that  I  did  not  think  any  human 
being  with  a  drop  of  red  blood  in  his  veins, 
called  a  man,  could  issue  an  order  to  sink  a 
passenger  steamer  without  at  least  giving  the 
women  and  children  a  chance  to  get  away. 
(67) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

True,  it  was  a  ship  of  a  belligerent  nation  and 
carried  citizens  of  countries  with  which  Ger- 
many was  at  war,  but  I  could  not  believe 
their  policy  of  "frightfulness"  would  be 
carried  to  such  an  extent  as  events  after- 
wards proved.  The  steamer  did  have  in 
her  cargo  some  ammunition,  but  taking  all 
things  into  consideration  I  did  not  believe 
an  order  would  be  given  to  torpedo  this 
boat  without  warning,  and  without  an  op- 
portunity being  given  to  passengers  to  take 
to  the  boats,  and  so  possibly  cause  one  of 
the  greatest  marine  disasters  of  modern 
times.  The  order  is  now  a  proven  fact  in 
history. 

We  had  a  pleasant  crossing,  smooth  seas, 
with  sunshine  and  very  little  fog. 

I  enjoyed  roaming  about  the  boat  ex- 
ceedingly, as  I  had  never  before  taken  pas- 
sage on  one  of  the  "greyhounds,"  although 
it  was  my  twenty-third  crossing.  I  always 
(68) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

enjoy  the  voyage  and  prefer  a  smaller  and 
slower  boat;  but  this  year  I  wanted  to  make 
my  business  trip  as  short  as  possible,  and  had 
the  Lusitania  gone  through  at  her  usual  rate 
of  speed  and  arrived  at  Liverpool  as  sched- 
uled, I  could  have  taken  up  my  work  the 
following  Saturday  morning. 

As  the  days  passed  the  passengers  seemed 
to  enjoy  them  more  and  more,  and  formed 
those  acquaintances  such  as  one  does  OR  an 
ocean  crossing.  Each  evening,  in  the  smok- 
ing room,  the  pool  for  the  following  day's 
run  was  auctioned,  and  that  always  makes 
for  informality  and  companionship. 

Thursday  evening  the  us.ual  concert  was 
given  and  much  enjoyed. 

Friday  morning  early  there  was  some  fog, 
but  I  arose  at  eight  as  usual  and  had  my  sea 
bath.  As  the  horn  was  blowing  and  the 
weather  was  thick,  I  returned  to  my  berth 
for  a  few  hours'  extra  snooze.  I  instructed 
(69) 


the  steward  that  if  he  didn't  hear  from  me  by 
12  o'clock  he  was  to  call  me,  as  that  would 
give  me  ample  time  to  get  ready  for  lunch 
at  one. 

At  noon  he  came  and  told  me  that  we  had 
picked  up  Cape  Clear  and  had  put  the  clock 
one  hour  and  forty  minutes  ahead  to  Green- 
wich time.  I  got  up  and  dressed,  and  was  on 
deck  at  about  ten  minutes  to  one  for  a  short 
stroll  before  lunch.  It  was  a  beautiful  day 
then,  light  wind,  a  smooth  sea,  and  bright 
sunshine.  I  thought  to  myself  that  if  a  Ger- 
man submarine  really  meant  business,  she 
would  have  to  wait  weeks  for  a  more  ideal 
chance  than  the  present  weather  conditions. 
With  a  flat,  unbroken  sea,  such  as  that 
around  us,  the  periscope  of  a  submarine 
could  certainly  carry  a  long  distance.  On  the 
port  side  was  the  good  old  Irish  Coast,  and 
it  seemed  to  me  that  we  were  going  up  the 
old  beaten  track  that  ocean  liners  have  taken 
(  70) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

for  the  last  fifty  years.  I  was  surprised  that 
we  were  following  it,  but  I  was  more  than 
surprised  at  the  slow  speed  we  were  making. 
There  was  no  use  of  one  asking  questions  of 
the  officers,  for  we  all  knew  they  were  told 
to  discreetly  hold  their  tongues. 

I  went  down  to  lunch  at  one  o'clock  and 
finished  shortly  before  two. 

The  portholes  along  both  sides  of  the 
dining  saloon  were  open.  I  had  special 
reason  to  notice  this,  as  my  seat  was  directly 
under  an  electric  fan,  and  several  times  on 
the  voyage  when  the  portholes  were  open  and 
the  fan  going  the  draught  was  so  strong  that 
I  had  been  obliged  to  request  the  steward  to 
shut  off  the  fan.  This  was  the  case  this 
noon. 

My  table  companion  was  Lothrop  With- 

ington.     We  had  a  jolly  time  together  and 

made  plans  for  seeing  each  other  in  London, 

as  his  rooms  were  near  our  London  office. 

(71  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Poor  chap,  I  wish  I  had  seen  him  after  we 
were  struck,  that  I  might  have  given  him  a 
helping  hand. 

After  luncheon  I  left  the  saloon,  went  to 
my  stateroom  and  then  up  on  deck  and  joined 
the  Hubbards  on  the  port  side.  Immediately 
after  the  explosion  the  ship  took  a  sharp 
list  to  the  starboard  and  a  decided  pitch  by 
the  head.  You  could  feel  the  two  separate 
motions  very  distinctly.  It  seemed  as  if 
she  were  going  down  at  once,  but  then  she 
stopped  suddenly  as  if  the  sea  had  met  the 
water-tight  bulkheads  and  she  seemed  to 
right  herself  and  even  raise  her  bow  a  little. 
This*gave  me  a  feeling  of  security,  and  I 
at  first  thought  she  would  stay  afloat.  As 
soon  as  the  ship  found  herself  I  looked  over 
the  rail  and  made  a  mental  note  as  to  how 
far  she  had  rolled  out. 

From  the  moment  we  were  struck  no 
sense  of  fear  or  doubt  entered  my  mind  but 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

that  I  could  perfectly  well  save  myself.  If 
she  did  sink  I  could  step  into  the  water,  and 
I  was  confident  that  I  could  paddle  round 
for  several  hours  until  I  was  rescued.  My 
experience  had  been  such  that  a  few  hours 
more  or  less  in  the  water  made  no  difference 
to  me,  and  I  didn't  care  particularly  whether 
it  was  a  swim  in  the  Irish  Sea  or  Hull  Bay. 

I  spoke  to  the  Hubbards,  but  when  they 
showed  no  inclination  to  go  to  their  cabin 
to  get  their  life  jackets  I  tapped  Mr.  Hub- 
bard  on  the  shoulder  to  emphasize  the  fol- 
lowing remark,  "If  you  don't  care  to  come, 
stay  here  and  I  will  get  them  for  you."  It 
did  not  take  me  many  minutes  to  go  to  my 
cabin,  get  several  life  jackets,  which  I 
strung  on  my  arm,  take  my  small  leather 
case  which  contained  my  business  papers, 
and  return  to  the  spot  where  I  had  left  the 
Hubbards.  I  wish  with  all  my  heart  that 
they  had  waited  until  I  came  back.  If  only 
(73) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

they  had  .  .  .  !  But  I  must  not  write  about 
the  "ifs"  of  this  catastrophe.  They  would 
in  themselves  make  a  book  larger  than  the 
account  of  the  disaster  itself. 

I  stood  there  a  few  moments  hoping  the 
Hubbards  would  return.  I  put  on  to  women 
all  but  two  of  the  life  jackets,  for  these  I  felt 
I  should  keep  for  a  few  moments  to  see  if  my 
friends  returned. 

Passengers  were  already  crowding  on  the 
deck,  running  back  and  forth,  and  as  I 
walked  aft  I  saw  no  officer  taking  charge  of 
the  lowering  of  any  one  lifeboat,  but  there 
were  attempts  being  made  by  the  crew  to 
lower  two  or  three  of  the  boats.  As  early 
as  this  in  the  catastrophe  there  was  con- 
fusion, and  nothing  seemed  to  be  done  with 
usual  ship's  discipline. 

If  the  passengers,  when  they  first  came  on 
deck,  had  found  that  the  officer  and  the  crew 
of  each  lifeboat  were  at  their  station,  waiting 
(  74  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

or  taking  orders  from  the  bridge,  it  would 
have  inspired  confidence  and  saved  the 
immediate  confusion;  but  there  was  no  such 
discipline. 

I  had  walked  fore  and  aft  on  the  deck 
once  or  twice,  stopping  often  to  help  people 
put  on  their  life  jackets  correctly,  when 
Captain  Turner  gave  his  order  not  to  lower 
the  boats. 

So  insistent  was  Captain  Turner  that  this 
order  should  be  carried  out  that  he  sent 
Captain  Anderson,  who  was  on  the  bridge 
at  the  tune,  down  along  the  port  side,  where 
I  was  standing,  to  enforce  it. 

As  soon  as  Captain  Turner  gave  this  or- 
der, the  crew,  who  were  on  the  deck  above 
lowering  the  boats,  immediately  took  a 
couple  of  turns  around  the  cleats  and  natur- 
ally left  for  parts  unknown;  at  least  I  did 
not  see  them  go  back  to  their  posts. 

Then  Captain  Turner  went  down  to  the 
(  75  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

starboard  end  of  the  bridge,  and  I  could 
hear  him  call  out  to  clear  away  and  lower  the 
boats,  meaning  those  on  that  side.  To  me 
these  two  orders  have  always  seemed  most 
inconsistent. 

The  incident  that  stands  out  most  clearly 
in  my  mind  up  to  this  time  is  my  meeting 
an  Italian  family,  consisting  of  an  aged 
woman,  probably  the  grandmother,  the 
mother,  and  her  three  children.  They  be- 
seeched  me  in  their  native  tongue,  but  not 
a  word  could  I  understand.  They  were 
third  cabin  passengers  and  had  found  their 
way  to  deck  B  in  remarkably  quick  time. 

By  this  time  I  had  given  up  hope  of  seeing 
the  Hubbards  again,  so  I  put  the  two  re- 
maining life  jackets  on  the  two  older  women 
and  got  another  for  the  oldest  child.  They 
were  all  calm  and  sat  down  on  one  of  the 
collapsible  lifeboats,  quietly  awaiting  in- 
structions as  to  what  to  do  next.  As  I  look 
(76) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

back  on  that  family  sitting  there  on  the 
deck  it  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  things  I 
remember.  One  felt  so  helpless.  The  boats 
were  not  being  lowered,  and  there  was  abso- 
lutely nothing  you  could  do  to  save  a  family 
like  this. 

It  was  then  I  looked  over  the  side  and 
made  up  my  mind  that  the  steamer,  rolling 
out  at  the  angle  which  she  had  reached,  with 
the  bow  under  water,  could  not  float  much 
longer,  so  I  started  on  my  second  trip  to 
my  stateroom. 

I  tried  to  go  down  by  the  main  compan- 
ion-way, but  it  was  full  of  people  making 
their  way  up.  It  was  not  so  crowded  but 
that  I  could  have  forced  my  way  through, 
but  to  have  done  so  would  only  have  added 
to  the  confusion  already  paramount,  so  I 
went  down  by  the  for'ard  companion-way. 

On  my  way  back  from  my  stateroom  I 
made  up  my  mind  that  the  boat  was  going 
(77) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  sink.  I  had  thought  so  before,  but  I  was 
confident  of  it  after  that  second  trip  down. 
The  part  of  the  boat  where  my  stateroom 
was  located  was  in  darkness.  The  portholes 
at  the  bottom  of  the  cross  passages  which  I 
passed  were  open,  and  naturally  very  little 
light  came  through  them,  as  they  were  only 
a  few  feet  from  the  water  and  the  list  of  the 
steamer  had  shut  out  the  direct  daylight 
so  there  was  only  the  reflection  from  the 
water. 

On  my  return,  I  did  not  at  first  go  up  the 
f  or'ard  companion-way.  I  went  along  the  pas- 
sage to  the  mam  companion-way,  as  I  knew 
I  could  be  of  assistance  in  helping  someone 
up  the  stairs.  By  that  time  there  was  a  jam. 
Many  people  found  difficulty  in  climbing  the 
sloping  stairs,  and  so  I  spoke  to  several  and 
led  them  back  along  the  passage  I  had  just 
come  through  and  up  the  for'ard  companion- 
way.  That  at  least  got  them  on  deck,  even 
(78) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

though  I  could  not  do  anything  for  them 
after  that. 

Without  thinking,  I  made  my  way  back 
to  the  spot  where  I  was  standing  with  the 
Hubbards  when  the  explosion  occurred. 
It  was  curious  that  I  kept  coming  back  to 
this  part  of  the  deck.  I  must  have  returned 
there  more  than  a  hah*  dozen  times,  led  back 
instinctively,  I  suppose,  by  the  hope  that  I 
might  find  my  friends. 

It  was  at  this  spot  that  I  looked  over 
the  side  when  she  was  first  struck,  and 
where  I  stood  each  time  I  wanted  to  see 
how  far  she  had  rolled  out.  A  glance  for'ard 
showed  me  how  far  she  had  sunk  by  the 
head. 

As  I  looked  up  and  down  the  deck  wild 
confusion  had  broken  loose.  Frantic  ef- 
forts were  at  last  being  made  to  lower  the 
lifeboats,  but  as  they  had  been  originally 
swung  clear  of  the  steamer,  the  acute  list 
(  79) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

which  she  had  now  taken  to  starboard  caused 
many  of  the  davits  on  the  port  side  to  swing 
inboard  so  far,  that  it  was  humanly  impossi- 
ble to  push  out  the  boats  clear  of  the  edge 
of  the  deck.  There  was  nothing  more  one 
could  do  on  the  port  side  to  help  on,  so  I 
stepped  inside  of  the  main  entrance,  and  slid 
across  to  the  starboard  side. 

As  I  came  out  I  noticed  a  lifeboat  just 
getting  away.  It  was  one  that  had  swung 
on  the  davits  opposite  the  main  entrance. 
The  water  was  then  almost  flush  with  the 
scuppers  of  deck  B.  I  tried  to  walk  aft  on 
the  starboard  side,  but  there  was  such  infi- 
nite confusion  that  I  saw  I  could  be  of  no 
help.  Most  of  the  passengers  had  gone  to 
that  side,  and  as  the  bow  settled  and  the 
water  rose  on  the  deck  they  naturally 
crowded  aft,  up  to  the  higher  part  of  the 
deck.  All  were  doing  the  best  they  could, 

but  there  was  no  discipline  or  order. 
(80) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Personally  I  didn't  care  to  get  into  a  life- 
boat. I  was  perfectly  willing  to  take  my 
chance  in  the  water,  but  as  I  returned  to 
the  for'ard  part  of  the  deck  I  saw  a  sight 
that  simply  demanded  action  on  my  part. 

I  found  myself  opposite  the  stern  of  a  boat, 
into  which  had  climbed  about  thirty-five 
people,  principally  women  and  children. 
The  for'ard  davit  was  about  a  foot  from 
the  bow,  and  at  the  rate  the  Lusitania  was 
going  down  it  meant  but  a  few  moments 
before  the  bow  of  the  boat  would  be  caught 
by  the  davit,  and  this  whole  boatload  would 
be  taken  down,  or  at  least  thrown  violently 
into  the  water. 

I  judge  that  this  particular  boat  in  the  first 
rush  had  been  lowered  many  feet  to  the 
water  and  as  the  steamer  sank  she  floated, 
and  so  the  distance  between  the  lifeboat 
and  the  davits  gradually  shortened.  The 
slack  of  the  ropes  had  to  fall  somewhere  and 
(81  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

as  the  ropes  fouled  on  themselves  in  the  bow 
and  the  stern  of  the  boat,  it  convinces  me 
that  there  was  no  way  on  the  steamer. 

Certainly  one  ought  to  make  the  attempt 
to  clear  this  boat  and  not  let  those  women 
and  children  be  drowned  without  an  effort 
to  save  them.  Someone  was  working  on  the 
bow  ropes,  so  I  climbed  into  the  stem  and 
threw  clear  my  end,  but  before  I  had  time 
to  cast  off  the  block  it  was  done  for  me  by  a 
seaman  who  had  stepped  into  the  boat  ap- 
parently at  the  same  moment  that  I  had. 
My  next  thought  was  of  the  for'ard  ropes. 
I  looked  and  saw  someone  struggling  to 
clear  them.  As  I  have  written,  I  think  he 
was  a  steward,  cutting  at  them  with  a  knife. 
I  yelled  to  him  to  take  the  axe.  He  looked 
around  a  moment  and  said  there  was  none. 
I  looked  in  my  end  and  found  none.  Then 
I  stepped  up  on  the  seat,  planning  to  go 

for'ard  to  see  if  I  could  help.    As  I  straight- 
(82) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

ened  up  to  get  my  balance,  my  back  came 
in  contact  with  the  davit  hanging  over 
the  after  end.  The  blow  knocked  me  down 
into  the  bottom  of  the  boat.  Then  I  tried 
again,  looking  out  for  the  davit  and  step- 
ping from  one  seat  to  the  next.  I  couldn't 
avoid  the  oars,  of  which  there  seemed  an 
infinite  number.  I  stepped  on  one  which 
rolled  over.  Again  I  slipped  to  the  bottom 
of  the  boat.  When  I  got  up  and  looked 
for'ard  I  saw  it  was  too  late  to  make  a 
further  attempt,  for  the  end  of  the  davit 
had  gripped  the  bow  of  the  boat  and  had 
just  begun  to  press  it  under. 

I  turned  to  the  people  and  told  them  to 
jump.  It  was  their  only  chance.  I  begged 
them  to!  One  or  two  men  did,  and  finally 
two  women  who  had  on  life  jackets.  When 
I  saw  them  go  I  felt  that  I  could  be  of  use  to 
them,  so  I  stepped  over  and  pushed  them 
ahead  of  me  as  I  swam.  A  short  distance 
(83) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

out  I  found  a  third  woman.  They  all  three 
kept  calm,  and  I  was  able  to  get  them  to  put 
their  hands  on  each  others'  shoulders,  two 
hi  front  and  one  behind. 

I  stopped  swimming  for  a  moment,  telling 
them  to  wait,  for  I  wished  to  turn  around 
and  see  how  near  the  steamer  was  to  her 
final  plunge.  I  felt  that  there  would  be 
considerable  suction,  and  I  wanted  to  try 
and  keep  the  three  women  out  of  it. 

The  steamer  had  an  acute  list  to  starboard, 
so  as  I  looked  back  I  could  clearly  see  the 
people  on  deck  B,  clinging  to  the  rail  that 
ran  along  the  side  of  the  house.  It  was  im- 
possible to  stand  on  the  deck  unless  one  had 
hold  of  some  stationary  object.  People  were 
clinging  to  one  another,  so  that  it  seemed  as 
if  they  were  standing  three  or  four  abreast  by 
the  rail.  As  the  steamer  sank  by  the  head 
and  the  water  rose  higher  up  the  deck,  those 

in  front  were  obliged  to  release  their  hold. 
(84  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

It  was  a  terrifying  sight  for  the  people 
back  of  them,  but  there  were  no  hysterical 
shrieks.  The  men,  women,  and  children  on 
that  steamer  met  their  end  like  heroes, 
every  one  of  them. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  aerial  caught 
me  and  took  me  down.  I  couldn't  imagine 
what  was  landing  on  me  out  of  the  sky.  I 
wouldn't  have  been  as  much  surprised  if  the 
submarine  had  risen  and  I  had  found  myself 
on  her,  but  to  get  a  bolt  from  the  blue  did 
surprise  me.  I  shook  this  off  my  head  and  so 
got  a  glimpse  of  what  it  was  that  struck  me. 
I  saw  it  was  one  of  the  aerials,  but  fortunately 
it  was  the  outside  one,  so  I  knew  the  other 
was  between  me  and  the  steamer.  As  the 
three  women  were  out  beyond  me  they  were 
safe  from  both  aerials.  This  wire  took  me  rap- 
idly under,  but  I  rose  before  the  steamer  sank. 

As  she  went  under  the  sea  I  was  not  con- 
scious of  hearing  cries;  rather  it  was  a  long, 
(85  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

lingering  moan  that  rose,  and  which  lasted 
for  many  moments  after  she  disappeared. 
They  who  were  lost  seemed  to  be  calling  from 
the  very  depths. 

I  kept  my  eyes  on  the  steamer  until  she 
went  out  of  sight.  Then  the  deluge  of 
wreckage  was  upon  us.  That  separated  me 
from  the  women,  and  I  am  not  confident  that 
I  got  them  afterwards  into  my  boat,  but  I 
am  quite  sure  that  they  must  have  been 
saved.  They  had  every  chance. 

Just  before  the  steamer  sank  she  seemed  to 
right  herself  and  go  down  on  quite  an  even 
keel.  She  settled  by  the  stern,  and  that  is 
another  reason  that  convinces  me  that  if 
her  portholes  had  been  closed  she  might 
have  stayed  afloat  after  her  bow  struck 
bottom. 

Much  to  my  surprise  there  was  only  slight 
suction.  There  were  explosions  out  of  the 

funnels  as  the  cold  water  mixed  with  the 
(86) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

steam  and  that  added  to  the  horror  of  the 
disaster.  The  mass  of  wreckage  was  tremen- 
dous. Aside  from  the  people  brought  out  with 
it,  there  were  deck  chairs,  oars,  boxes,  and  I 
can't  remember  what.  I  simply  know  that 
one  moment  one  was  jammed  between  large 
objects,  and  the  next  moment  one  was  under 
the  water.  There  were  many  people  around 
you  who  needed  assistance,  but  all  one  could 
do  was  to  push  an  oar  or  box  or  a  piece  of 
wreckage  to  each  to  grab.  A  few  moments 
after  the  first  rush  was  over  I  looked  around 
to  see  if  I  could  find  a  boat.  A  few  yards 
away  I  saw  a  collapsible  lifeboat  floating 
peacefully  around,  right  side  up.  I  made 
good  time  crossing  the  intervening  space 
and  was  the  first  man  on  that  boat.  A 

sailor    immediately    followed,   then   G , 

and  we  three  got  to  work  opening  it  up. 

When  we  got  the  canvas  covering  off  and 
saw  no  oars  in  that  boat  I  was,  to  say  the 
(87) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

least,  disgusted  with  any  Board  of  Trade  or 
committee  of  men  who  would  pass  a  boat 
that  was  worthy  to  be  called  one,  without 
deeming  it  necessary  to  have  her  fitted  with 
oars.  If  there  had  been  a  sea  on  we  should 
have  been  helpless. 

After  we  got  the  boat  manned  and  went 
back  into  the  wreckage  it  was  simply  awful. 
We  took  those  whom  we  could  help,  but  there 
were  many,  many  past  human  assistance. 
We  loaded  our  little  boat  to  the  full  limit  of  its 
capacity  and  started  for  the  fishing  smack. 

As  we  left  with  our  boatload,  I  looked 
around  for  other  boats.  There  were  al- 
ready two  lifeboats  between  us  and  the 
fishing  smack;  one  halfway  there  and  the 
other  about  quarter  of  the  way,  and  there 
was  also  one  headed  toward  Kinsale.  There 
was  a  fourth  headed  west,  apparently  row- 
ing for  a  streak  of  smoke  one  could  see  on 
the  horizon.  There  must  have  been  at  least 
(88) 


two  lifeboats  that  stayed  at  the  scene  of  the 
wreck  doing  their  utmost. 

When  we  reached  the  fishing  smack  the 
first  two  lifeboats  I  have  mentioned,  had 
already  arrived  and  had  put  then*  human 
freight  aboard.  One,  in  charge  of  a  boat- 
swain, with  four  of  the  ship's  regular  crew 
rowing,  was  starting  back. 

I  can't  understand  why  these  two  life- 
boats got  away  so  quickly  from  the  scene  of 
the  disaster.  It  seems  to  me  that  they  should 
have  stayed  right  there  and  taken  in  more 
people.  There  were  only  about  50  people 
on  the  fishing  smack,  and  so  that  was  all  the 
two  regular  lifeboats  brought  down.  They 
could  have  put  75  or  80  people  in  each  one 
of  those  boats  in  perfect  safety,  the  sea  was  so 
smooth.  There  were  several  remaining  hours 
of  daylight  in  which  they  could  have  been 
picked  up,  so  there  was  no  need  to  hurry 
away.  Aside  from  the  people  they  could 
(89) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

have  taken  into  the  boat,  they  could  have 
been  of  much  assistance  in  letting  others 
cling  to  the  sides.  There  are  life  lines  for 
just  that  purpose. 

Nearly  all  of  the  people  that  got  aboard  the 
fishing  smack  before  us  were  dry,  as  these 
two  boats  had  cleared  before  the  steamer 
sank.  All  of  the  people  on  my  boat  had  been 
fished  out  of  the  ocean. 

About  one  half  an  hour  after  we  were 
aboard  the  fishing  smack  another  collapsible 
boat  came  alongside  and  we  took  these  peo- 
ple on  board. 

There  were  a  father  and  mother  and  a 
little  year-old  baby  on  the  fishing  smack. 
They  were  fortunate  in  getting  away  in  one 
of  the  lifeboats,  and  the  little  chap  was  one 
of  the  few  babies  who  was  saved.  I  have 
seen  it  stated  that  of  about  150  children 
aboard,  only  about  25  were  saved.  I  can 

believe   that   from  what   I   saw  when    we 
(90) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

were  back  in  the  wreckage  pulling  out 
people. 

The  trip  up  on  the  Flying  Fish  was  un- 
eventful. Many  got  quite  dried  off  in  the 
engine  room  and  nearly  all  regained  much 
of  their  normal  composure.  There  were  com- 
paratively few  who  were  in  dire  distress. 

The  illustration  opposite  this  page  shows 
the  lifeboats  as  I  found  them  in  the  slip  be- 
side the  Cunard  wharf  on  Saturday  morning. 
I  called  the  attention  of  the  newspaper  men 
who  had  cameras  to  these  boats,  and  I  was 
glad  to  see  them  take  the  picture.  If  they 
hadn't  done  so  I  should  have  had  it  done, 
for  to  me  this  is  a  very  pretty  piece  of  evi- 
dence. The  picture  reproduced  here  is  taken 
from  one  of  the  London  dailies. 

I  think  it  would  be  well  for  the  Cu- 
nard Line  to  explain  how  lifeboats  that 
are  supposed  to  hold  people,  should  be 
brought  into  port  carrying  so  much  dunnage. 
(91) 


Look  at  the  oars  and  sails  that  were  left  in 
these  boats,  occupying  space  that  could  have 
been  better  used  for  carrying  human  freight! 
I  climbed  through  each  one  of  these  boats, 
and  they  all  showed  evidence  of  having 
been  used  by  survivors.  You  will  notice 
that  some  of  the  boats  are  stripped  of  all 
extra  fittings,  and  these  probably  carried 
their  proper  quota  of  human  freight.  There 
are  but  five  of  the  boats  in  this  picture;  the 
sixth  was  in  another  slip. 

Evidence  has  been  given  that  the  first 
torpedo  crippled  the  engines  so  that  it  was 
impossible  to  reverse  the  screws  and  bring 
the  steamer  to  a  stop  or  slow  her  down  to  a 
point  where  the  captain  judged  it  safe  to 
lower  the  boats.  All  right,  if  that  is  the  opin- 
ion of  an  experienced  seaman  I  shall  not 
dispute  it;  but  I  should  like  to  have  a  naval 
engineer  estimate  how  much  way  there  could 
have  been  on  the  steamer,  say  ten  minutes 
(92) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

after  she  was  struck,  even  if  the  engine  room 
wasn't  able  to  reverse  the  screws  and  bring 
her  to  a  stop. 

The  Lusitania  was  of  32,000  tons  dis- 
placement. She  was  going  through  the  water 
at  about  17  knots  an  hour.  If  you  sud- 
denly shut  off  that  propulsion,  giving  her  a 
list  to  starboard  and  a  rapid  settling  by  the 
head,  I  can't  believe  she  would  be  ranging 
ahead  .Tery  fast  after  the  first  10  or  12 
minutes. 


(93) 


PART  m 


PART  III 

ONE  who  has  read  this  Narrative  cannot 
help  but  being  interested  in  the  following  ac- 
count, taken  from  the  "Frankfurter  Zeitung" 
of  Sunday,  May  9,  1915,  issued  two  days 
after  the  tragedy. 

I  saw  several  German  papers  of  about  that 
date,  but  I  selected  this  as  a  representative 
one.  This  article  is  much  saner  than  others 
I  saw,  and  I  feel  gives  a  fairer  idea  of  what 
the  German  press  published  at  that  time. 

I  print  the  German  text,  that  those  who 
can  read  it  may  judge  for  themselves,  and 
on  the  opposite  page  I  have  given  the 
English  translation. 

For  the  transposition  of  the  original  Ger- 
man into  Roman  characters  and  the  trans- 
lation into  English,  I  am  indebted  to  my 
(97) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

friend  Ernest  F.  Langley,  Professor  of  Ro- 
mance Languages  at  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology. 

If  one  refers  to  the  reproduction  of  the 
plan  of  the  ship,  he  will  see  the  places  indi- 
cated where  the  twelve  guns  were  to  have 
been  mounted  had  the  British  Government 
ever  taken  the  Lusitania  for  an  "auxiliary 
cruiser."  While  this  plan  was  originally  pub- 
lished when  the  Lusitania  was  first  launched 
in  1906,  it  was  used  again  at  this  time  with 
the  position  of  the  guns  still  showing. 


(  98) 


EXTRACTS 

WITH  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  THE 
"FRANKFURTER  ZEITUNG" 


FRANKFURTER  ZEITUNG 

Sonntag,  9  Mai  1915.  Was  haben  wir 
getan?  Ein  deutsches  Kriegsscliiff  hat  an 
der  Kiiste  Irlands  die  "Lusitania"  vernich- 
tet.  Ein  gewaltiger  Wert,  der  gegen  uns  auf 
der  Wagschale  des  Feindes  lag,  ist  zerstort. 
Viele  Millionen  an  materiellem  Gut  sind  ver- 
nichtet,  und  ein  unermessbarer  Besitz  an 
moralischer  Kraft  und  an  GefiiHswert  eines 
Volkes,  dessen  ganzes  Leben  auf  das  Bliihen 
seiner  Schiffahrt  und  seines  Handels  einge- 
stellt  ist,  sank  mit  dem  stolzen  Schiff  zu 
Grunde.  Dieses  Seevolk  ist  in  seinem  Hei- 
ligsten  getroffen  worden.  Alle  Massregeln 
seiner  Vorsicht  waren  umsonst.  Die  deut- 
sche  Waffe  hat  die  Schutzwehr  durchschnit- 
ten.  England  sieht  sich  an  dieser  Stelle 
nackt  und  hilflos  und  ausserstande,  mit  dem 
(  100  ) 


Sunday,  May  9,  1915.  What  have  we 
done?  A  German  war  vessel  has  sunk  the 
Lusitania  off  the  coast  of  Ireland.  A  mighty 
asset  which  lay  on  the  enemy's  side  of  the 
scale  is  destroyed.  Property  to  the  value  of 
many  millions  is  annihilated,  and  an  im- 
measurable store  of  moral  power  and  self- 
confidence  of  a  people  whose  whole  life  is 
centered  in  the  prosperity  of  its  shipping 
and  commerce  sank  to  the  bottom  with  the 
proud  vessel.  This  maritime  nation  has  been 
stricken  in  its  Holy  of  Holies.  All  measures 
dictated  by  its  prudence  were  in  vain.  Ger- 
many's weapon  has  cut  through  its  armor. 
England  sees  herself  naked  and  helpless  at 
this  spot  and  unable  to  keep  pace  with  her 
German  opponent.  Nothing  of  hypocrisy  or 
(  101  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

deutschen  Gegner  Schritt  zu  halten.  Nichts 
von  Heuchelei  und  Kramergeist !  Das  Gef iihl 
ist  echt.  Ohnmachtige  Wut!  Und  das  ist 
es  eben,  woher  uns  die  Gefahr  kam,  das  ist 
im  letzten  Ende  auch  der  Grund,  der  uns  den 
Krieg  gebracht  hat:  England,1  das  Volk  zur 
See,  die  Weltmacht,  ist  eingeholt  von  uns 
Jiingeren,  und  es  gibt  Dinge,  durch  die  wir 
ihm  vorangehen.  Und  weil  dies  so  ist,  weil 
alles  schmahliche  Verleumden  nichts  anderes 
als  kraftlose  Schlage  zur  Abwehr  sind, 
Kriegswaffen  Englands,  nicht  von  anderer 
Art  als  das  sinnlose  Einsperren  der  Zivilge-. 
fangenen,  als  die  Vergeltungswut  gegen  die 
gefangenen  U-Bootsleute  —  darum  ist  uns 
dies  alles  so  veraehtlich  und  reizt  den  Zorn 
unseres  Volkes. 

Die   "Lusitania"   trug   Passagiere!     Wir 
batten  es  wahrhaftig  unendlich   lieber   ge- 

1  Italics  are  used  in  the  above  text  where  the  original  Ger- 
man type  emphasizes  by  spacing. 

(  102  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

shopkeeper-spirit  about  it!  The  feeling  is 
genuine.  Impotent  rage !  And  that  was  the 
very  thing  which  caused  our  danger,  and, 
in  the  last  analysis,  that  also  was  the  reason 
why  war  was  brought  upon  us.  England,1 
the  nation  of  sailors,  the  world  power,  is 
overtaken  by  us  juniors,  and  things  exist 
which  enable  us  to  outstrip  her.  And  be- 
cause this  is  so,  because  all  her  despicable 
calumny  is  nothing  else  than  impotent  blows 
to  defend  herself,  typical  English  weapons, 
exactly  on  a  par  with  the  senseless  confine- 
ment of  civilians  and  the  fierce  reprisals  upon, 
the  captured  submarine  crews — because  this 
is  so,  the  whole  matter  is  contemptible  in 
our  eyes  and  provokes  the  anger  of  our 
people. 

The    Lusitania    carried    passengers!     In 
truth  we  should  have  been  infinitely  better 

1  Italics  are  used  in  the  translations  where  the  original 
German  text  emphasizes  by  spacing, 

(  103  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

sehen,  wenn  das  Schiff,  das  schon  seit  vielen 
Monaten  dem  Feind  von  Nutzen  ist  und  uns 
Schaden  bringt,  hatte  vernichtet  werden 
kb'nnen,  ohne  dass  diese  Katastrophe  fiir 
seine  Fahrgaste  hatte  kommen  miissen. 
Aber  miissen  wir  uns,  denen  der  Feind  das 
Messer  in  die  Kehle  stossen  will,  wir,  deren 
Bezwingung  durch  den  Hunger  und  den 
Mangel  an  Kriegsgerat  so  ziemlich  alle  Welt 
mit  Ruhe  als  ein  unvermeidliches  Schick- 
sal  mitansehen  wiirde,  miissen  wir  uns  nicht 
mit  aller  Kraft  und  mit  alien  Mitteln,  die 
der  deutsche  Geist  erfinden  kann  und  die 
die  Ehre  des  deutschen  Volkes  als  achtbare 
Waff  en  anerkennt,  gegen  diese  lurch  tbare 
Gefahr  wehren,  die  uns  noch  immer  bedroht? 
Haben  nicht  gerade  sie  den  Kampf  bis  aufs 
Messer  gepredigt  und  durch  ihre  Blockade 
eroffnet,  die  jetzt  zetern,  weil  die  deutschen 
Waff  en  die  besseren  sind?  Oder  haben  jene 
ein  Recht,  uns  anzuklagen,  die  ihre  Ange- 
(  104  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

pleased  if  the  ship,  which  for  many  months 
past  has  been  of  aid  to  the  enemy  and  has 
done  us  harm,  could  have  been  destroyed 
without  the  necessity  of  this  catastrophe  be- 
falling its  passengers.  But  must  we  not,  we 
whose  throat  the  enemy  is  seeking  to  cut,  we 
whose  defeat  by  hunger  and  by  lack  of  war 
material  nearly  every  one  would  witness 
complacently  as  an  unavoidable  fate,  must 
we  not  defend  ourselves  from  this  dreadful 
danger,  which  still  threatens  us,  with  all  our 
might  and  with  all  the  means  that  the  Ger- 
man spirit  can  invent  and  which  the  honor 
of  the  German  people  recognizes  as  legitimate 
weapons?  Were  not  those  who  now  raise 
outcries  because  the  German  weapons  are 
better  than  their  own  the  very  ones  who  pro- 
claimed war  to  the  knife  and  opened  it  with 
their  blockade?  Or  have  they  a  right  to 
accuse  us,  those  who  allowed  their  friends 
and  relatives  to  entrust  themselves  to  a  ship 
(  105  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

horigen  sich  einem  Schiff  anvertrauen  liessen, 
dessen  Vernichtung  mit  aller  Klarheit  zuvor 
angekiindigt  war?  Auf  ein  Schiff,  das  wie 
ein  Kreuzer,  starker  als  irgend  ein  deutscher 
geschiitzter  Kreuzer,  mit  zwolf  15  Zenti- 
meter-Geschiitzen  ausgeriistet  war?  Sie  ha- 
ben  uns,  als  wir  warnten,  verspottet.  Sie 
mogen  sich  an  jene  wenden,  die  das  Verbre- 
chen  begangen  haben,  zur  Fahrt  auf  einem 
Kriegsschiff  Fahrgaste  zu  laden. 

Berlin,  8.  Mai  (Priv.-Tel.  Ctr.  Bin.).  Der 
Eindruck,  den  die  Vernichtung  der"  Lusitania  " 
macht,  wird  weit  iiber  Deutschlands  und 
Englands  Grenzen  hinausreichen,  und  man 
kann  ohne  weiteres  annehmen,  dass  sich  auch 
neutrale  Stimmen  finden  werden,  die  eifernd 
den  Untergang  zahlreicher  Passagiere  be- 
klagen.  Gewiss,  jedes  Menschenleben  ist 
wertvoll  und  sein  Verlust  bedauerlich, 
aber  an  den  Massnahmen  und  Kampf- 
formen  dieses  Weltkrieges  gemessen,  an  den 
(~106  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

whose  destruction  was  announced  with  per- 
fect clearness  in  advance,  to  a  ship  equipped 
like  a  cruiser,  more  powerfully  than  any 
German  protected  cruiser,  with  twelve  15 
centimeter  guns?  They  mocked  at  us  when 
we  gave  warning.  Let  them  turn  to  those 
who  committed  the  crime  of  allowing  pas- 
sengers to  travel  on  a  war  vessel. 

Berlin,  May  8.  The  impression  created 
by  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  will  extend 
far  beyond  the  borders  of  Germany  and  Eng- 
land, and  we  may  at  once  assume  that  neutral 
voices  also  will  arise  to  deeply  deplore  the 
loss  of  a  large  number  of  passengers.  Every 
human  life  is,  of  course,  valuable,  and  its 
loss  deplorable,  but,  measured  by  the 
methods  of  this  world  war,  by  the  methods 
introduced  by  our  enemies,  forcing  us  to  re- 
taliatory measures  in  self-defence,  the  death 
of  non-combatants  is  a  matter  of  no  conse- 
quence. The  standards  observed  among 
(  107  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Formen,  die  unsere  Feinde  eingefiihrt  und 
durch  sie  uns  zur  Gegenwehr  gezwungen 
haben,  kommt  es  auf  den  Tod  von  Nicht- 
kampfern  nicht  mehr  an.  Die  Massstabe, 
die  unter  zivilisierten  Volkern  im  Frieden 
galten,  sind  zerstort  worden,  und  wer  uns 
mil  den  Opfern  der  "Lusitania"  kommt,  der 
soil  sich  erst  legitimieren  und  uns  die  Frage 
beantworten,  ob  er  gegeifert  und  gejammert 
hat,  als  russische  Heere  auf  dem  Boden  Ost- 
preussens  gebrannt,  gemordet  und  geschdndet 
haben,  kaltbliitig  und  bewusst  gegen  eine 
friedlicheBevolkerung,  gegen  Manner,  Frauen 
und  Kinder.  Das  war  so  gutes  Blut,  wie 
nur  irgend  eines,  das  in  englischen  Schiffen 
auf  dem  Wasser  schwimmt.  Und  wer  da 
klagt  und  Zweifel  hegt  an  der  Berechtigung 
unserer  Kampfesfiihrung,  den  fragen  wir, 
wie  er  tiber  Englands  Aushungerungskrieg 
gegen  Deutschland  denkt,  und  ob  er  uns  viel- 
leicht  zumutet,  uns  wehrlos  aushungern  zu 
(  108  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

civilized  nations  in  times  of  peace  have  been 
destroyed,  and  any  one  reproaching  us  for 
the  lives  sacrificed  on  the  Lusitania  should 
first  justify  himself  and  answer  for  us 
the  question  whether  he  frothed  and 
fumed  when  Russian  armies  on  East 
Prussian  soil  coolly  and  deliberately  burned, 
murdered  and  committed  outrage  upon  a 
peaceful  population,  men,  women  and 
children?  That  blood  was  as  good  as  any 
sailing  on  the  ocean  in  English  ships.  And 
if  anyone  complains  and  feels  doubts  about 
the  justification  of  our  war  methods,  we  shall 
ask  him  what  he  thinks  about  England's 
war  of  starvation  against  Germany,  and 
whether  he  imagines  perhaps  that  it  is  our 
purpose  to  allow  ourselves  to  be  starved  to 
submission  without  acting  in  self-defence? 
And  we  shall  also  ask  him  what  he  thinks 
about  the  shipment  of  thousands  of  millions 
worth  of  arms  and  munitions  from  America, 
(  109  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

lassen.  Und  den  fragen  wir,  wie  er  iiber  die 
Milliardenlieferungen  von  Waff  en  und  Muni- 
tion aus  Amerika  denkt,  diese  Mithilfe, 
durch  die  allein  den  Englandern  und  Fran- 
zosen  seit  Monaten  uberhaupt  die  Fort- 
fiihrung  des  Krieges  ermoglicht  worden  ist. 
Der  nun  versenkte  Riesendampfer  hat  er- 
wiesenermassen  grosse  Mengen  von  Kriegs- 
material  und  Munition  an  Bord  gehabt.  Er 
war  ausserdem  ein  feindliches  Kriegsschiff, 
denn  er  war  stark  armiert.  Er  war  ein  Hilfs- 
Jcreuzer.  Und  zum  Dritten  fallt  ins  Gewicht: 
keine  Warnung  ist  unterblieben,  die  geeignet 
war,  zu  verhindern,  dass  Passagiere  die  ge- 
wagte  Fahrt  auf  diesem  Schiffe  unternahmen. 
Unser  Botschafter  in  Washington  hat  in 
amerikanischen  Blattern  offiziell  vor  dieser 
Fahrt  gewarnt.  Nur  Spott  und  Hohn  in  der 
angesehensten  englischen  Presse  ist  die  Ant- 
wort  gewesen.  Die  Besitzer  der  "Lusi- 
tania"  haben  vielleicht  geglaubt,  dass  diese 
(  HO) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

an  assistance  by  which  alone,  generally 
speaking,  during  the  past  months,  the  con- 
tinued participation  in  the  war  has  been 
made  possible  for  the  English  and  French. 
The  huge  steamer  now  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean  had,  as  has  been  proved,  a  great 
quantity  of  war  material  and  munitions  on 
board.  She  was  moreover  an  enemy's  war 
vessel,  for  she  was  heavily  armed.  She  was 
an  auxiliary  cruiser.  And  thirdly  it  must  be 
considered  that  no  warning  calculated  to 
prevent  passengers  undertaking  the  perilous 
voyage  on  this  vessel  was  neglected.  Our 
ambassador  at  Washington  gave  official 
warning  about  this  voyage  in  the  American 
newspapers.  Nothing  but  mockery  and 
scorn  was  the  answer  in  the  most  highly 
respected  English  press.  The  owners  of  the 
Lusitania  believed,  perhaps,  that  these  pas- 
sengers would  form  a  protection  for  the 

contraband  and  the  lucrative  shipment  of 
(  111  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Passagiere  ein  Schutz  fiir  die  Kontrebande, 
fur  die  lohnende  Waffenlieferung,  die  an 
ihrem  Bord  waren,  bilden  wiirden.  Die 
"Deutsche  Tageszeitung"  hat  recht,  wenn 
sie  sagt:  "Die  an  Bord  der  'Lusitania*  un- 
tergegangenen  Passagiere  sind,  wenn  man 
das  Ding  beim  rechten  Namen  nennen  will, 
ein  Opfer  grossbritannischer  Frivolitat  und 
Habsucht." 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

arms  which  were  on  board.  The  Deutsche 
Tageszeitung  is  right  in  saying:  "The  pas- 
sengers who  went  down  with  the  Lusitania 
are,  if  we  wish  to  call  things  by  their  right 
names,  a  sacrifice  to  Great  Britain's  frivolity 
and  avarice." 


PART  IV 


PART  IV 

I  WROTE  parts  I  and  II  before  reading  a 
word  of  the  Official  Inquiry  held  by  Lord 
Mersey  and  his  Assessors,  or  even  the 
meagre  newspaper  accounts  of  the  investiga- 
tion that  were  published  in  the  London 
papers  while  I  was  there.  I  wished  to  write 
with  an  open  mind  and  did  not  want  to 
know  a  word  of  the  Court's  Findings  until 
I  had  finished  mine. 

I  held  my  own  little  Court  of  Inquiry, 
with  my  own  eyes  and  brain  offering  the 
evidence.  My  findings  as  written  in  the 
first  two  parts  are  as  diametrically  opposite 
from  those  of  Lord  Mersey's  Court  as  they 
well  could  be.  I  have  printed  mine  in  full 
and  so  I  now  do  the  same  to  his. 

(  117) 


LOSS  OF  THE   STEAMSHIP 
"LUSITANIA" 

REPORT  of  a  Formal  Investigation  into  the 
circumstances  attending  the  foundering  on 
the  7th  of  May,  1915,  of  the  British 
Steamship  "Lusitania"  of  Liverpool, 
after  being  torpedoed  off  the  Old  Head 
of  Kinsale,  Ireland. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COURT 

THE  Court,  having  carefully  enquired  into 
the  circumstances  of  the  above  mentioned 
disaster,  finds,  that  the  loss  of  the  said  ship 
and  lives  was  due  to  damage  caused  to  the 
said  ship  by  torpedoes  fired  by  a  submarine 
of  German  nationality  whereby  the  ship 
sank. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Court  the  act  was 
done  not  merely  with  the  intention  of  sink- 
ing the  ship,  but  also  with  the  intention  of 
destroying  the  lives  of  the  people  on  board. 

Dated  this  seventeenth  day  of  July,  1915. 
MERSEY, 

Wreck  Commissioner. 

We  concur  in  the  above  Report, 

F.  S.  INGLEFIELD 
H.  J.  HEARN 

_.  _  Assessors. 

DAVID  DA  VIES 
JOHN  SPEDDING 
(  121  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

INTRODUCTION 

On  the  18th  of  May,  1915,  the  Board  of 
Trade  required  that  a  Formal  Investigation 
of  the  circumstances  attending  the  loss  of 
the  "  Lusitania "  should  be  held,  and  the 
Court  accordingly  commenced  to  sit  on  the 
15th  of  June. 

There  were  six  sittings,  some  of  which 
were  public  and  some  of  which  were  in 
camera.  Thirty-six  witnesses  were  exam- 
ined, and  a  number  of  documents  were 
produced. 

THE  SHIP 

The  "Lusitania  "  was  a  Turbine  steamship 
built  by  John  Brown  &  Co.,  of  Clydebank, 
in  1907,  for  the  Cunard  Steamship  Company. 
She  was  built  under  Admiralty  Survey  and 
in  accordance  with  Admiralty  requirements, 
and  was  classed  100  A.I.  at  Lloyd's.  Her 
length  was  755  feet,  her  beam  88  feet,  and  her 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

depth  60  feet  4  in.  Her  tonnage  was  30,395 
gross  and  12,611  net.  Her  engines  were  of 
68,000  h.  p.  and  her  speed  24^/2  to  25  knots. 
She  had  23  double-ended  and  two  single- 
ended  boilers  situated  in  four  boiler-rooms. 

The  ship  was  divided  transversely  by 
eleven  principal  bulkheads  into  twelve  sec- 
tions. 

The  two  forward  bulkheads  were  collision 
bulkheads  without  doors.  The  remaining 
bulkheads  had  watertight  doors  cut  in  them 
which  were  closed  by  hand.  In  places  where 
it  was  necessary  to  have  the  doors  open  for 
working  the  ship  they  could  be  closed  by 
hydraulic  pressure  from  the  bridge.  A  longi- 
tudinal bulkhead  separated  the  side  coal 
bunkers  from  the  boiler-room  and  engine- 
rooms  on  each  side  of  the  ship. 

The  "Lusitania"  was  a  passenger  as  well  as 
an  emigrant  ship  as  defined  by  the  Merchant 
Shipping  Acts.  She  fulfilled  all  the  require- 
(  123  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

ments  of  the  law  in  this  connection  and  had 
obtained  all  necessary  certificates. 

She  had  accommodation  on  board  for 
3,000  persons  (including  the  crew). 

The  Life-Boats  and  Life-Saving  Appliances 

The  ship  was  provided  with  boat  accom- 
modation for  2,605  persons.  The  number 
of  persons  on  board  on  the  voyage  in  ques- 
tion was  1,959. 

The  number  of  boats  was  48.  Twenty-two 
of  these  were  ordinary  life-boats  hanging  from 
davits — eleven  on  each  side  of  the  boat  deck. 
These  had  a  total  carrying  capacity  of  1,323. 
The  remainder  (26)  were  collapsible  boats, 
with  a  total  carrying  capacity  of  1,282. 
Eighteen  of  these  collapsible  boats  were 
stowed  under  eighteen  of  the  life-boats. 
The  remaining  eight  were  stowed  four  on 
each  side  of  the  ship  abaft  the  life-boats. 

In  addition  the  ship  was  provided  with 
(  124  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

2,325  life-jackets  (125  of  which  were  for 
children)  and  35  life-buoys.  All  these  were 
conveniently  distributed  on  board. 

The  boats,  the  life-jackets  and  the  life- 
buoys were  inspected  at  Liverpool  on  the 
17th  of  March,  1915,  by  the  resident  Board  of 
Trade  Surveyor,  and  again  on  the  15th  of 
April,  1915,  by  the  Board  of  Trade  Emigra- 
tion Officer.  Both  these  gentlemen  were 
called  before  me  and  satisfied  me  that  the 
condition  of  the  different  appliances  was  hi 
every  way  satisfactory. 

The  boats  were  also  examined  by  the 
ship's  carpenter  at  New  York  on  the  com- 
mencement of  the  homeward  voyage  on  the 
1st  of  May  and  found  to  be  in  good  order. 

The  Captain,  the  Officers  and  the  Crew 

The   Captain  of  the  ship,   Mr.   William 
Thomas  Turner,  had  been  in  the  service  of 
the  Cunard  Company  since  1883.     He  had 
(  125  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

occupied  the  position  of  Commander  since 
1903,  and  had  held  an  Extra  Master's  Cer- 
tificate since  1907.  He  was  called  before  me 
and  gave  his  evidence  truthfully  and  well. 
The  "  Lusitania  "  carried  an  additional  Captain 
named  Anderson,  whose  duty  it  was  to  assist 
in  the  care  and  navigation  of  the  ship.  He 
was  unfortunately  drowned  when  the  ship 
went  down,  and  I  can  only  judge  of  his 
capacity,  by  the  accounts  given  to  me  of  the 
work  he  did.  Several  of  the  officers  gave  their 
evidence  before  me  and  gave  it  well.  I  am 
quite  satisfied  that  the  two  Captains  and  the 
officers  were  competent  men,  and  that  they 
did  then*  duty.  Captain  Turner  remained  on 
the  bridge  till  he  was  swept  into  the  sea  and 
Captain  Anderson  was  working  on  the  deck 
until  he  went  overboard  and  was  drowned. 

It  appears  that  since  the  commencement 
of  the  war  the  Cunard  Company  has  lost  all 
its  Royal  Naval  Reserve  and  Fleet  Reserve 
(  126  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

men,  and  the  managers  have  had  to  take  on 
the  best  men  they  could  get  and  to  train 
them  as  well  as  might  be  in  the  time  at  their 
disposal.  In  connection  with  this  training 
prizes  have  been  given  by  the  Company  to 
induce  the  crews  to  make  themselves  pro- 
ficient in  handling  the  boats,  and  the  efforts 
in  this  direction  seem  to  have  been  successful 
in  the  case  of  the  "  Lusitania's  "  crew.  Mr. 
Arthur  Jones,  the  First  Officer,  described  the 
crew  on  this  voyage  as  well  able  to  handle 
the  boats,  and  testified  to  their  carrying  out 
the  orders  given  to  them  in  a  capable  man- 
ner. One  of  the  crew,  Leslie  N.  Morton, 
who  at  the  time  the  ship  was  torpedoed  was 
an  extra  look-out  on  the  starboard  side  of 
the  forecastle  head,  deserves  a  special  word 
of  commendation.  He  had  been  shipped  in 
New  York.  He  was  only  18  years  of  age, 
but  he  seems  to  have  exhibited  great  courage, 

self-possession  and  resource.     He  was  the 
(  127  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

first  to  observe  the  approach  of  the  two  tor- 
pedoes, and  before  they  touched  the  ship  he 
had  reported  them  to  the  bridge  by  means 
of  the  megaphone,  calling  out  "Torpedoes 
coming  on  the  starboard  side."  When  the 
torpoedoes  struck  the  ship,  Morton  was 
knocked  off  his  feet,  but,  recovering  him- 
self  quickly,  he  went  at  once  to  the  boats  on 
the  starboard  side  and  assisted  in  filling  and 
lowering  several  of  them.  Having  done  all 
that  could  be  done  on  board,  he  had,  as  he 
expresses  it,  "to  swim  for  it."  In  the  water 
he  managed  to  get  hold  of  a  floating  col- 
lapsible life-boat  and,  with  the  assistance  of 
another  member  of  the  crew  named  Parry, 
he  ripped  the  canvas  cover  off  it,  boarded  it, 
and  succeeded  in  drawing  into  it  fifty  or 
sixty  passengers.  He  and  Parry  rowed  the 
life-boat  some  miles  to  a  fishing  smack,  and, 
having  put  the  rescued  passengers  on  board 
the  smack,  they  re-entered  the  life-boat  and 
(  128  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

succeeded  in  rescuing  twenty  or  thirty  more 
people.  This  boy,  with  his  mate  Parry,  was 
instrumental  in  saving  nearly  one  hundred 
lives.  He  has  cause  for  being  proud  of  the 
work  he  did.  Morton  had  a  good  opportunity 
of  judging  how  the  crew  performed  their 
duties  in  the  short  time  which  elapsed  be- 
tween the  explosion  of  the  torpedoes  and  the 
foundering  of  the  ship.  He  saw  the  crew 
helping  the  women  and  children  into  the 
boats;  he  saw  them  distributing  life-belts  to 
the  passengers.  He  heard  the  officers  giving 
orders  and  he  observed  that  the  crew  were 
obeying  the  orders  properly. 

Some  of  the  passengers  were  called,  and 
they  confirm  this  evidence.  They  speak  in 
terms  of  the  highest  praise  of  the  exertions 
made  by  the  crew. 

No  doubt  there  were  mishaps  in  handling 
the  ropes  of  the  boats  and  in  other  such 
matters,  but  there  was,  in  my  opinion,  no 
(  129  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

incompetence  or  neglect,  and  I  am  satisfied 
that  the  crew  behaved  well  throughout,  and 
worked  with  skill  and  judgment.  Many  more 
than  half  their  number  lost  their  lives. 

The  total  crew  consisted  of  702,  made  up 
of  77  in  the  Deck  Department,  314  in  the 
Engineering  Department,  306  in  the  Stew- 
ards' Department  and  of  5  musicians.  Of 
these,  677  were  males  and  25  were  females. 
Of  the  males,  397  were  lost,  and  of  the  females, 
16,  making  the  total  number  lost,  413.  Of 
the  males  280  were  saved,  and  of  the  females, 
9,  making  the  total  number  saved,  289. 

I  find  that  the  conduct  of  the  masters,  the 
officers  and  the  crew  was  satisfactory.  They 
did  their  best  in  difficult  and  perilous  cir- 
cumstances and  their  best  was  good. 

The  Passengers. 
The  number  of  passengers  on  board  the 

"  Lusitania  "  when  she  sailed  was  1,257,  con- 
(  130  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

sisting  of  290  saloon,  600  second-cabin,  and 
367  third-cabin  passengers. 

Of  these,  944  were  British  and  Canadian, 
159  were  American,  and  the  remainder  were 
of  seventeen  other  nationalities.  Of  the 
British  and  Canadian  584  perished.  Of 
the  American  124  perished,  and  of  the 
remainder  77  perished.  The  total  number 
lost  was  785,  and  the  total  number  saved 
was  472. 

The  1,257  passengers  were  made  up  of 
688  adult  males,  440  adult  females,  51 
male  children,  39  female  children,  and  39 
infants.  Of  the  688  adult  males,  421  were 
lost  and  267  were  saved.  Of  the  440  adult 
females,  270  were  lost  and  170  were  saved. 
Of  the  51  male  children,  33  were  lost  and  18 
were  saved.  Of  the  39  female  children,  26 
were  lost  and  13  were  saved.  Of  the  39 
infants,  35  were  lost  and  4  were  saved. 

Many  of  the  women  and  children  among 
(  131  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

those  lost  died  from  exhaustion  after  immer- 
sion in  the  water. 

I  can  speak  very  well  of  the  conduct  of  the 
passengers  after  the  striking  of  the  ship. 
There  was  little  or  no  panic  at  first,  although 
later  on,  when  the  steerage  passengers  came 
on  to  the  boat  deck  in  what  one  witness 
described  as  "a  swarm,"  there  appears  to 
have  been  something  approaching  a  panic. 

Some  of  the  passengers  attempted  to  assist 
in  launching  the  boats  and,  in  my  opinion, 
did  more  harm  than  good.  It  is,  however, 
quite  impossible  to  impute  any  blame  to 
them.  They  were  all  working  for  the  best. 

The  Cargo 

The  cargo  was  a  general  cargo  of  the  or- 
dinary kind,  but  part  of  it  consisted  of  a 
number  of  cases  of  cartridges  (about  5,000). 
This  ammunition  was  entered  in  the  manifest. 

It  was  stowed  well  forward  in  the  ship  on 
(  132  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

the  orlop  and  lower  decks  and  about  50 
yards  away  from  where  the  torpedoes  struck 
the  ship.  There  was  no  other  explosive  on 
board. 

The  Ship  Unarmed 

It  has  been  said  by  the  German  Govern- 
ment that  the  "  Lusitania"  was  equipped  with 
masked  guns,  that  she  was  supplied  with 
trained  gunners,  with  special  ammunition, 
that  she  was  transporting  Canadian  troops, 
and  that  she  was  violating  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  These  statements  are  un- 
true; they  are  nothing  but  baseless  inven- 
tions, and  they  serve  only  to  condemn  the 
persons  who  make  use  of  them.  The  steamer 
carried  no  masked  guns  nor  trained  gunners, 
or  special  ammunition,  nor  was  she  trans- 
porting troops,  or  violating  any  laws  of  the 
United  States. 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

THE  VOYAGE 

The  Departure  from  New  York 

The  "Lusitania"  left  New  York  at  noon  on 
the  1st  of  May,  1915.  I  am  told  that  before 
she  sailed  notices  were  published  in  New 
York  by  the  German  authorities  that  the 
ship  would  be  attacked  by  German  sub- 
marines, and  people  were  warned  not  to  take 
passage  in  her.  I  mention  this  matter  not  as 
affecting  the  present  enquiry  but  because  I 
believe  it  is  relied  upon  as  excusing  hi  some 
way  the  subsequent  killing  of  the  passengers 
and  crew  on  board  the  ship.  In  my  view,  so 
far  from  affording  any  excuse  the  threats 
serve  only  to  aggravate  the  crime  by  making 
it  plain  that  the  intention  to  commit  it  was 
deliberately  formed  and  the  crime  itself 
planned  before  the  ship  sailed.  Unfor- 
tunately the  threats  were  not  regarded  as 
serious  by  the  people  intended  to  be  affected 
(  134  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

by  them.  They  apparently  thought  it  im- 
possible that  such  an  atrocity  as  the  de- 
struction of  their  lives  could  be  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  German  Government.  But 

they  were  mistaken,  and  the  ship  sailed. 

i 
The  Ship's  Speed 

It  appears  that  a  question  had  arisen  in 
the  office  of  the  Cunard  Company  shortly 
after  the  war  broke  out  as  to  whether  the 
transatlantic  traffic  would  be  sufficient  to 
justify  the  Company  in  running  their  two  big 
and  expensive  ships  —  the  "  Lusitania  "  and 
the  "Mauretania."  The  conclusion  arrived  at 
was  that  one  of  the  two  (the  "  Lusitania  ") 
could  be  run  once  a  month  if  the  boiler  power 
were  reduced  by  one-fourth.  The  saving  in 
coal  and  labour  resulting  from  this  reduc- 
tion would,  it  was  thought,  enable  the  Com- 
pany to  avoid  loss  though  not  to  make  a 
profit.  Accordingly  six  of  the  "Lusitania's" 
(  135  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

boilers  were  closed  and  the  ship  began  to 
run  in  these  conditions  in  November,  1914. 
She  had  made  five  round  voyages  in  this 
way  before  the  voyage  in  question  in  this 
enquiry.  The  effect  of  the  closing  of  the 
six  boilers  was  to  reduce  the  attainable 
speed  from  243^  to  21  knots.  But  this  re- 
duction still  left  the  "Lusitania"  a  consider- 
ably faster  ship  than  any  other  steamer  ply- 
ing across  the  Atlantic.  In  my  opinion  this 
reduction  of  the  steamer's  speed  was  of  no 
significance  and  was  proper  in  the  circum- 
stances. 

THE  TORPEDOING  OF  THE  SHIP 

By  the  7th  of  May  the  "  Lusitania  "  had 
entered  what  is  called  the  "Danger  Zone," 
that  is  to  say,  she  had  reached  the  waters  in 
which  enemy  submarines  might  be  expected. 
The  Captain  had  therefore  taken  precautions. 
He  had  ordered  all  the  life-boats  under  davits 
(  136  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  be  swung  out.  He  had  ordered  all  bulk- 
head doors  to  be  closed  except  such  as  were 
required  to  be  kept  open  in  order  to  work  the 
ship.  These  orders  had  been  carried  out. 
The  portholes  were  also  closed.  The  lookout 
on  the  ship  was  doubled  —  two  men  being 
sent  to  the  crow's  nest  and  two  to  the  eyes 
of  the  ship.  Two  officers  were  on  the  bridge 
and  a  quartermaster  was  on  either  side  with 
instructions  to  look  out  for  submarines. 
Orders  were  also  sent  to  the  engine-room 
between  noon  and  two  P.M.  of  the  7th  to 
keep  the  steam  pressure  very  high  in  case  of 
emergency  and  to  give  the  vessel  all  possible 
speed  if  the  telephone  from  the  bridge  should 
ring. 

Up  to  8  A.M.  on  the  morning  of  the  7th 
the  speed  on  the  voyage  had  been  main- 
tained at  21  knots.  At  8  A.M.  the  speed  was 
reduced  to  18  knots.  The  object  of  this  re- 
duction was  to  secure  the  ship's  arrival  out- 
(  137  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

side  the  bar  at  Liverpool  at  about  4  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  when  the  tide 
would  serve  to  enable  her  to  cross  the  bar 
into  the  Mersey  at  early  dawn.  Shortly 
after  this  alteration  of  the  speed  a  fog  came 
on  and  the  speed  was  further  reduced  for  a 
time  to  15  knots.  A  little  before  noon  the 
fog  lifted  and  the  speed  was  restored  to  18 
knots,  from  which  it  was  never  subsequently 
changed.  At  this  time  land  was  sighted 
about  two  points  abaft  the  beam,  which 
the  Captain  took  to  be  Brow  Head;  he 
could  not,  however,  identify  it  with  sufficient 
certainty  to  enable  him  to  fix  the  position 
of  his  ship  upon  the  chart.  He  therefore  kept 
his  ship  on  her  course,  which  was  S.  87  E. 
and  about  parallel  with  the  land  until  12:40, 
when,  in  order  to  make  a  better  landfall  he 
altered  his  course  to  N.  67  E.  This  brought 
him  closer  to  the  land,  and  he  sighted  the 
Old  Head  of  Kinsale.  He  then  (at  1:40 
(  138  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

P.M.)  altered  his  course  back  to  S.  87°  E., 
and  having  steadied  his  ship  on  that  course 
began  (at  1 :50)  to  take  a  four-point  bearing. 
This  operation,  which  I  am  advised  would 
occupy  30  or  40  minutes,  was  in  process  at 
the  time  when  the  ship  was  torpedoed,  as 
hereafter  described. 

At  2  P.M.  the  passengers  were  finishing 
their  mid-day  meal. 

At  2:10  P.M.,  when  ten  to  fifteen  miles  off 
the  Old  Head  of  Kinsale,  the  weather  being 
then  clear  and  the  sea  smooth,  the  Captain, 
who  was  on  the  port  side  of  the  lower  bridge, 
heard  the  call,  "There  is  a  torpedo  coming, 
sir,"  given  by  the  second  officer.  He  looked 
to  starboard  and  then  saw  a  streak  of  foam 
in  the  wake  of  a  torpedo  travelling  towards 
his  ship.  Immediately  afterwards  the  "  Lusi- 
tania"  was  struck  on  the  starboard  side  some- 
where between  the  third  and  fourth  funnels. 
The  blow  broke  number  5  life-boat  to  splinters. 
(  139  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

A  second  torpedo  was  fired  immediately 
afterwards,  which  also  struck  the  ship  on 
the  starboard  side.  The  two  torpedoes 
struck  the  ship  almost  simultaneously. 

Both  these  torpedoes  were  discharged  by 
a  German  submarine  from  a  distance  va- 
riously estimated  at  from  two  to  five  hun- 
dred yards.  No  warning  of  any  kind  was 
given.  It  is  also  in  evidence  that  shortly 
afterwards  a  torpedo  from  another  sub- 
marine was  fired  on  the  port  side  of  the 
"  Lusitania."  This  torpedo  did  not  strike  the 
ship,  and  the  circumstance  is  only  men- 
tioned for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  per- 
haps more  than  one  submarine  was  taking 
part  in  the  attack. 

The  "  Lusitania  "  on  being  struck  took  a 
heavy  list  to  starboard  and  in  less  than 
twenty  minutes  she  sank  in  deep  water. 
Eleven  hundred  and  ninety-eight  men, 
women,  and  children  were  drowned. 
(  140  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Sir  Edward  Carson,  when  opening  the 
case,  described  the  course  adopted  by  the 
German  Government  in  directing  this  at- 
tack as  "contrary  to  International  Law  and 
the  usages  of  war,"  and  as  constituting, 
according  to  the  law  of  all  civilized  countries, 
"  a  deliberate  attempt  to  murder  the  pas- 
sengers on  board  the  ship.'*  This  statement 
is,  in  my  opinion,  true,  and  it  is  made  in 
language  not  a  whit  too  strong  for  the  oc- 
casion. The  defenceless  creatures  on  board, 
made  up  of  harmless  men  and  women,  and  of 
helpless  children,  were  done  to  death  by  the 
crew  of  the  German  submarine  acting  under 
the  directions  of  the  officials  of  the  German 
Government.  In  the  questions  submitted  to 
me  by  the  Board  of  Trade  I  am  asked,  "What 
was  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  life?  "  The  answer 
is  plain.  The  effective  cause  of  the  loss  of 
life  was  the  attack  made  against  the  ship  by 
those  on  board  the  submarine.  It  was  a 
(141) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

murderous  attack  because  made  with  a  de- 
liberate and  wholly  unjustifiable  intention 
of  killing  the  people  on  board.  German 
authorities  on  the  laws  of  war  at  sea  them- 
selves establish  beyond  all  doubt  that  though 
in  some  cases  the  destruction  of  an  enemy 
trader  may  be  permissible  there  is  always 
an  obligation  first  to  secure  the  safety  of  the 
lives  of  those  on  board.  The  guilt  of  the 
persons  concerned  in  the  present  case  is  con- 
firmed by  the  vain  excuses  which  have  been 
put  forward  on  their  behalf  by  the  German 
Government  as  before  mentioned. 

One  witness,  who  described  himself  as  a 
French  subject  from  the  vicinity  of  Switzer- 
land, and  who  was  in  the  second-class  dining- 
room  in  the  after  part  of  the  ship  at  the  time 
of  the  explosion,  stated  that  the  nature  of 
the  explosion  was  "similar  to  the  rattling  of 
a  maxim  gun  for  a  short  period,"  and  sug- 
gested that  this  noise  disclosed  the  "secret " 
.(  142  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

existence  of  some  ammunition.  The  sound, 
he  said,  came  from  underneath  the  whole 
floor.  I  did  not  believe  this  gentleman. 
His  demeanour  was  very  unsatisfactory. 
There  was  no  confirmation  of  his  story,  and 
it  appeared  that  he  had  threatened  the 
Cunard  Company  that  if  they  did  not  make 
him  some  immediate  allowance  on  account 
of  a  claim  which  he  was  putting  forward 
for  compensation,  he  would  have  the  un- 
pleasant duty  of  making  his  claim  in  public, 
and,  in  so  doing,  of  producing  "evidence 
which  will  not  be  to  the  credit  either  of  your 
Company  or  of  the  Admiralty."  The  Com- 
pany had  not  complied  with  his  request. 

It  may  be  worth  while  noting  that  Leith, 
the  Marconi  operator,  was  also  in  the  second- 
class  dining-saloon  at  the  time  of  the  ex- 
plosion. He  speaks  of  but  one  explosion. 
In  my  opinion  there  was  no  explosion  of  any 
part  of  the  cargo. 

(  143) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Orders  Given  and  Work  Done  after  the 
Torpedoing 

The  Captain  was  on  the  bridge  at  the 
tune  his  ship  was  struck,  and  he  remained 
there  giving  orders  until  the  ship  foundered. 
His  first  order  was  to  lower  all  boats  to  the 
rail.  This  order  was  obeyed  as  far  as  it 
possibly  could  be.  He  then  called  out, 
"Women  and  children  first."  The  order 
was  then  given  to  hard-a-starboard  the 
helm  with  a  view  to  heading  towards  the 
land,  and  orders  were  telegraphed  to  the 
engine-room.  The  orders  given  to  the  en- 
gine-room are  difficult  to  follow  and  there  is 
obvious  confusion  about  them.  It  is  not, 
however,  important  to  consider  them,  for  the 
engines  were  put  out  of  commission  almost 
at  once  by  the  inrush  of  water  and  ceased 
working,  and  the  lights  in  the  engine-room 
were  blown  out. 

Leith,  the  Marconi  operator,  immediately 
(  144  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

sent  out  an  S.  0.  S.  signal,  and,  later  on, 
another  message,  "  Come  at  once,  big  list,  10 
miles  south  Head  Old  Kinsale."  These  mes- 
sages were  repeated  continuously  and  were 
acknowledged.  At  first,  the  messages  were 
sent  out  by  the  power  supplied  from  the 
ship's  dynamo;  but  in  three  or  four  minutes 
this  power  gave  out,  and  the  messages  were 
sent  out  by  means  of  the  emergency  appara- 
tus in  the  wireless  cabin. 

All  the  collapsible  boats  were  loosened 
from  their  lashings  and  freed  so  that  they 
could  float  when  the  ship  sank. 

The  Launching  of  the  Life-Boats 

Complaints  were  made  by  some  of  the 
witnesses  about  the  manner  in  which  the  boats 
were  launched  and  about  their  leaky  condi- 
tion when  in  the  water.  I  do  not  question 
the  good  faith  of  these  witnesses,  but  I 
think  their  complaints  were  ill-founded. 
(  145  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Three  difficulties  presented  themselves  in 
connection  with  the  launching  of  the  boats. 
First,  the  time  was  very  short:  only  twenty 
minutes  elapsed  between  the  first  alarm  and 
the  sinking  of  the  ship.  Secondly,  the  ship 
was  under  way  the  whole  time:  the  engines 
were  put  out  of  commission  almost  at  once, 
so  that  the  way  could  not  be  taken  off. 
Thirdly,  the  ship  instantly  took  a  great  list 
to  starboard,  which  made  it  impossible  to 
launch  the  port  side  boats  properly  and  ren- 
dered it  very  difficult  for  the  passengers  to  get 
into  the  starboard  boats.  The  port  side 
boats  were  thrown  inboard  and  the  starboard 
boats  inconveniently  far  outboard. 

In  addition  to  these  difficulties  there  were 
the  well-meant  but  probably  disastrous  at- 
tempts of  the  frightened  passengers  to  assist 
in  the  launching  operations.  Attempts  were 
made  by  the  passengers  to  push  some  of  the 
boats  on  the  port  side  off  the  ship  and  to 
(  146) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

get  them  to  the  water.  Some  of  these  boats 
caught  on  the  rail,  and  capsized.  One  or 
two  did,  however,  reach  the  water,  but  I  am 
satisfied  that  they  were  seriously  damaged  in 
the  operation.  They  were  lowered  a  dis- 
tance of  60  feet  or  more  with  people  hi  them, 
and  must  have  been  fouling  the  side  of  the 
ship  the  whole  tune.  In  one  case  the  stern 
post  was  wrenched  away.  The  result  was 
that  these  boats  leaked  when  they  reached 
the  water.  Captain  Anderson  was  superin- 
tending the  launching  operations,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  did  the  best  that  could  be  done  in 
the  circumstances.  Many  boats  were  low- 
ered on  the  starboard  side,  and  there  is 
no  satisfactory  evidence  that  any  of  them 
leaked. 

There  were  doubtless  some  accidents  in 
the  handling  of  the  ropes,  but  it  is  impossible 
to  impute  negligence  or  incompetence  in 
connection  with  them. 

(  147  ) 


'THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

The  conclusion  at  which  I  arrive  is  that  the 
boats  were  in  good  order  at  the  moment  of 
the  explosion  and  that  the  launch  ing  was 
carried  out  as  well  as  the  short  time,  the 
moving  ship  and  the  serious  list  would  allow. 

Both  the  Captain  and  Mr.  Jones,  the  First 
Officer,  hi  their  evidence  state  that  everything 
was  done  that  was  possible  to  get  the  boats 
out  and  to  save  lives,  and  this  I  believe  to 
be  true. 

THE  NAVIGATION  OF  THE  SHIP 

At  the  request  of  the  Attorney-General 
part  of  the  evidence  in  the  Enquiry  was 
taken  in  camera.  This  course  was  adopted 
in  the  public  interest.  The  evidence  hi  ques- 
tion dealt,  firstly,  with  certain  advice  given 
by  the  Admiralty  to  navigators  generally 
with  reference  to  precautions  to  be  taken 
for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  submarine  at- 
tacks; and  secondly,  with  information  fur- 
(  148  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

nished  by  the  Admiralty  to  ^Captain  Turner 
individually  of  submarine  dangers  likely  to 
be  encountered  by  him  in  the  voyage  of 
the  "  Lusitania."  It  would  defeat  the  object 
which  the  Attorney-General  had  hi  view  if 
I  were  to  discuss  these  matters  in  detail  in 
my  report;  and  I  do  not  propose  to  do  so. 
But  it  was  made  abundantly  plain  to  me 
that  the  Admiralty  had  devoted  the  most 
anxious  care  and  thought  to  the  questions 
arising  out  of  the  submarine  peril,  and  that 
they  had  diligently  collected  all  available 
information  likely  to  affect  the  voyage  of  the 
"  Lusitania"  in  this  connection.  I  donotknow 
who  the  officials  were  to  whom  these  duties 
were  entrusted,  but  they  deserve  the  highest 
praise  for  the  way  hi  which  they  did  their  work. 
Captain  Turner  was  fully  advised  as  to 
the  means  which  in  the  view  of  the  Admiralty 
were  best  calculated  to  avert  the  perils  he 
was  likely  to  encounter,  and  hi  considering 
(  149  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

the  question  whether  he  is  to  blame  for  the 
catastrophe  in  which  his  voyage  ended  I  have 
to  bear  this  circumstance  in  mind.  It  is 
certain  that  in  some  respects  Captain  Turner 
did  not  follow  the  advice  given  to  him.  It 
may  be  (though  I  seriously  doubt  it)  that 
had  he  done  so  his  ship  would  have  reached 
Liverpool  in  safety.  But  the  question  re- 
mains, was  his  conduct  the  conduct  of  a 
negligent  or  of  an  incompetent  man.  On 
this  question  I  have  sought  the  guidance  of 
my  assessors,  who  have  rendered  me  in- 
valuable assistance,  and  the  conclusion  at 
which  I  have  arrived  is  that  blame  ought  not 
to  be  imputed  to  the  Captain.  The  advice 
given  to  him,  although  meant  for  his  most 
serious  and  careful  consideration,  was  not 
intended  to  deprive  him  of  the  right  to 
exercise  his  skilled  judgment  in  the  difficult 
questions  that  might  arise  from  time  to  time 
in  the  navigation  of  his  ship.  His  omission 
(  150  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  follow  the  advice  in  all  respects  cannot 
fairly  be  attributed  either  to  negligence  or 
incompetence. 

He  exercised  his  judgment  for  the  best. 
It  was  the  judgment  of  a  skilled  and  ex- 
perienced man,  and  although  others  might 
have  acted  differently  and  perhaps  more  suc- 
cessfully, he  ought  not,  in  my  opinion,  to  be 
blamed. 

The  whole  blame  for  the  cruel  destruction 
of  life  in  this  catastrophe  must  rest  solely 
with  those  who  plotted  and  with  those  who 
committed  the  crime. 

•         •.•••• 

The  above  is  called  the  "Annex"  to  the 
"Finding  of  the  Court."  This  latter  I  do 
not  reprint  for  it  consists  only  of  21  ques- 
tions, the  answers  to  which  are  found  in  the 
"Annex." 

A    notice    in    "The    Daily    Telegraph" 
(London)     of    May     12,    announced     that 
(  151  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

"The  Board  of  Trade  have  ordered  a  formal 
investigation  into  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing the  loss  of  the  S.S.  '  Lusitania,'  and  they 
desire  to  invite  passengers  of  the  *  Lusitania ' 
who  now  are,  or  will  shortly  be  in  or  near 
London,  and  who  are  able  to  supply  evi- 
dence likely  to  be  of  value  for  the  Inquiry, 
to  communicate  at  once,  either  personally  or 
by  letter  or  telegram,  to  the  Solicitor  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  at  the  Hotel  Metropole, 
Northumberland  Avenue,  Charing-Cross, 
W.  C.;  with  a  view  to  statements  being 
taken  from  them  at  the  said  address,  be- 
tween the  hours  of  eleven  A.M.  and  six  P.M. 
during  the  week  commencing  Wednesday, 
the  12th  instant,  and  ending,  and  including, 
Tuesday  the  18th  instant. 

"  The  Inquiry  will  be  conducted  by  the 
Law  Officers,  who  may  be  relied  upon  to  see 
that  all  material  points  consistent  with  the 
public  interest  will  be  dealt  with." 
(  152) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

I  know  that  some  passengers  did  appear 
and  did  make  official  statements  which  they 
signed.  Others  laid  evidence  informally  be- 
fore the  Solicitor,  and  while  they  did  not 
sign  statements,  they  were  in  London  dur- 
ing the  Official  Inquiry  and  could  have  been 
summoned  and  would  have  testified. 

The  following  testimony,  for  example,  was 
informally  offered:  that  the  portholes  were 
open,  that  the  discipline  of  the  officers  and 
crew  was  not  what  it  should  have  been,  that 
the  collapsible  boats  were  not  fitted  with 
oars  and  were  not  in  proper  working  condi- 
tion, etc.  None  of  this  evidence  seems  to 
have  been  desired  by  his  Lordship  and  his 
Assessors,  or  at  least  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  it  was  ever  laid  before  them. 

I  do  not  question  the  sincerity  of  the 
findings  of  Lord  Mersey's  Court,  based  on 
the  evidence  placed  before  it;  but  what  be- 
came of  this  informal  evidence,  as  quoted 
(  153  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

above,  and  much  more  that  was  laid  before 
the  Solicitor  of  the  Board  of  Trade? 

The  Court  finds  that  "the  portholes  were 
closed."  On  what  and  on  whose  evidence? 
The  above  statement  can  hardly  be  made  on 
the  evidence  of  the  Captain;  for  when  he 
testified  before  the  Coroner  of  Kinsale,  in 
reply  to  the  question,  "What  precautions 
did  you  take  in  connection  with  these 
threats?"  (referring  to  the  Notice  from 
the  German  Imperial  Embassy  which  ap- 
peared in  the  New  York  papers  of  May  1), 
he  stated  that  "I  had  all  the  boats  swung 
out  and  the  bulkhead  doors  closed  when  we 
came  within  the  danger  zone."  ("  The  Daily 
Telegraph,"  May  11.) 

The  Captain  had  the  lifeboats  swung  out 
Thursday  morning,  twenty-four  hours  before 
the  disaster,  but  I  know  of  no  evidence  that 
shows  that  he  ever  ordered  the  portholes 
closed.  If  he  had,  it  is  fair  to  presume  he 
(  154) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

would  have  mentioned  it  when  he  testified 
that  he  had  ordered  the  bulkhead  doors 
closed. 

There  is  evidence  that  at  least  two  life- 
boats, each  containing  about  fifty  people, 
were  dropped  when  almost  20  feet  from  the 
water.  A  survivor  of  one  of  these  boats  told 
me  that  the  man  for'ard,  who  had  charge 
of  the  rope,  simply  let  it  run  out  through 
his  hands.  He  was  not  one  of  the  "frightened 
passengers"  but  one  of  the  crew.  It  seems 
to  me  quite  possible  in  this  instance  "to 
impute  negligence"  and  "incompetence  in 
connection  with  them"  (the  ropes). 

In  another  part  of  the  report  Lord  Mersey 
states  that  "no  doubt  there  were  mishaps  in 
handling  the  ropes  of  the  boats  and  in  other 
such  matters,  but  there  was,  in  my  opinion, 
no  incompetence  or  neglect,  and  I  am  satis- 
fied that  the  crew  behaved  well  throughout, 
and  worked  with  skill  and  judgment." 
(  155  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

Just  above  this  in  the  report  one  reads: 
*'That,  since  the  commencement  of  the  war, 
the  Cunard  Company  has  lost  all  its  Royal 
Reserve  and  Fleet  Reserve  men,  and  the 
managers  have  had  to  take  on  the  best  men 
they  could  get  and  to  train  them  as  well  as 
might  be  in  the  time  at  their  disposal."  Is 
it  likely  that  any  officer  could  take  un- 
trained men  and  in  a  few  weeks,  or  even 
months,  make  such  efficient  seamen  of  them 
that  they  could,  in  a  disaster  of  this  magni- 
tude, work  '*  with  skill  and  judgment "  ? 
I  do  not  believe  it  could  be  done. 

As  one  of  the  passengers  who  was  moving 
around  the  deck  and  saw  the  heroic  efforts 
made  by  his  fellow  passengers  to  achieve  that 
which  the  crew  utterly  failed  to  accomplish, 
I  resent,  with  every  spark  of  manhood  that 
is  in  me,  the  finding  of  Lord  Mersey's  Court 
when  he  says  that  "Probably  (the)  disas- 
trous attempts  of  the  frightened  passengers 
(  156  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  assist  in  the  launching  operations"  added 
to  the  "difficulties"  the  officers  and  crew 
found  in  trying  to  lower  the  boats. 

I  would  suggest  adding  to  the  "difficul- 
ties" mentioned  above  the  following:  lack 
of  discipline  among  the  crew  and  the  lack 
of  expert  knowledge  as  to  the  handling  of 
the  boats,  knowledge  that  can  come  only 
to  the  well-trained  crew. 

He  says  of  this  wonderful  crew  that 
"many  more  than  half  of  them  lost  their 
lives."  I  suppose  that  is  because  the  other 
hah*  "worked  with  skill  and  judgment." 

It  would  seem  that  Lord  Mersey  measures 
"skill  and  judgment"  by  the  number  that 
were  lost;  and  if  so,  why  doesn't  he  pass  the 
same  relative  judgment  on  the  passengers 
who  lost  their  lives?  He  mentions  figures, 
but  here  are  the  totals:  There  were  1,257 
passengers  and  472  were  saved.  To  have 
been  consistent,  he  should  have  written 
(  157) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

after  the  paragraph,  "In  addition  to  these 
difficulties  there  were  the  well-meant  but 
probably  disastrous  attempts  of  the  fright- 
ened passengers  to  assist  in  the  launching 
operations,"  the  following:  "Many  more 
than  half  their  number  lost  their  lives." 
From  what,  pray?  Because  they  were 
"frightened,"  or  because  the  crew  acted 
with  "skill  and  judgment"? 

It  doesn't  seem  to  me  that  this  Court  of 
Inquiry  has  stood  up  to  its  business  like  the 
historic  Briton  who  isn't  afraid  to  take  his 
medicine,  and  place  blame  where  it  should 
be  placed;  rather,  it  has  hidden  behind 
the  act  itself,  which  it  finds  "was  done  not 
merely  with  the  intention  of  sinking  the 
ship,  but  also  with  the  intention  of  destroy- 
ing the  lives  of  the  people  aboard." 

So  for  the  Captain,  the  Court  finds  that 
he  acted  with  "the  judgment  of  a  skilled  and 
experienced  man,  and  .  .  .  ought  not  .  .  . 
(  158  ) 


THE  LUSITANIA'S  LAST  VOYAGE 

to  be  blamed";  for  the  Crew  and  Officers, 
that  their  "conduct  .  .  .  was  satisfactory. 
They  did  their  best  .  .  .  and  their  best  was 
good";  for  the  Cunard  Line,  that  the  "re- 
duction of  the  steamer's  speed  was  of  no 
significance  and  was  proper  in  the  circum- 
stances." And  what  does  this  honorable 
Court  find  for  the  passengers  who  entrusted 
their  lives  to  the  judgment  of  the  Captain 
and  those  under  him?  To  wit,  that  "some 
of  the  passengers  attempted  to  assist  in 
launching  the  boats  .  .  .  and  did  more 
harm  than  good,"  and  that  "the  frightened 
passengers  (made)  probably  disastrous  at- 
tempts to  assist  in  the  launching  operations." 


'And  though  thou  thinkest  that  thou  knowest  sure 
Thy  victory,  yet  thou  canst  not  surely  know. 
For  we  are  all,  like  swimmers  in  the  sea, 
Poised  on  the  top  of  a  huge  wave  of  fate, 
Which  hangs  uncertain  to  which  side  to  fall. 
And  whether  it  will  heave  us  up  to  land, 
Or  whether  it  will  roll  us  out  to  sea, 
Back  out  to  sea,  to  the  deep  waves  of  death, 
We  know  not,  and  no  search  will  make  us  know; 
Only  the  event  will  teach  us  in  its  hour." 


(Cfte  flit 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


A     000  676  691     9 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

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